Electrifying Currents (Revised)
by SephCurrentDaughterofPoseidon
Summary: Seph is a seemingly ordinary girl with ordinary problems. That is until she shows up at halfblood hill chased by Hellhounds. It turns out that she is the oldest daughter of Poseidon. She is thrust into a world full of monsters trying to kill her. To top off all of her issues, she has no idea what she's doing. Join her and her friends on their adventures to keep Gaea asleep.
1. The Newbie

_**THE OWL OF OLYMPUS**_

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**To readers old and new, welcome to the revised edition of Electrifying Currents! Get ready for twists and turns not seen in the old series. I hope you all enjoy.**

_**Summary:**_** Seph is a seemingly ordinary girl with ordinary problems. That is until she shows up at halfblood hill chased by Hellhounds. It turns out that she is the oldest daughter of Poseidon. She is thrust into a world full of monsters trying to kill her. Join her and her adventure to get the Owl of Olympus, something thst could cause the gods' downfall. She'll make new alliances, meet new family, and create a bond with someone that could prove fatal in the future.**

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_**James:**_

He had to duck quickly to miss an unwanted haircut courtesy of Matt's large sword. Matt Andrews was a son of Ares with a mean swing. He was almost the opposite of James, with curly brown hair and deep brown eyes; he had a large muscular build on him and a tall frame to match. His body was littered with scars, but none as obvious as the one that tore across his neck from his ear, past the top of his orange camp Half-Blood tee shirt.

James, on the other hand, had black hair and blue eyes, and as strong as he was from his years of training, he would never be as bulky as Matt. He was almost as tall as his opponent, standing at six foot, while Matt towered maybe three or four inches above him. Sure James had scars, what self respecting demigod didn't? But none of them were as gruesome as Matt's. But just because his scars didn't stand out, didn't mean that his mouth didn't.

James almost lived on kitchen duty at camp. His attitude made sure of that. While Matt, on the other hand, reminded James of a formal soldier...at least in front of Chiron, and never had kitchen duty. That was why James was even training in the first place. He was pissed off at that stupid son of Eris, who had landed him in kitchen duty, because James had landed him in the infirmary. He never liked it when people talked trash, especially when they talked it to someone they knew could beat them up.

He deflected Matt's strike that would have left a pretty bruise on his sternum and counter attacked with a vicious slash at his left thigh as Lenny's taunt about his mother played through his head. Matt managed to jump out of the way just in time, a disturbed look on his face. "Time out, man," he said, holding his arms, and raising his sword with them, in the air.

"What?" James demanded, wanting to get back to training as quickly as possible. The pain of a scratch, the burning of his muscles, and the adrenaline of missing a wound were great distractions from his fury.

"If you start training any rougher, you're gonna have go start fighting actual monsters," Matt replied, wiping a sheen of sweat off his forehead. "You seemed as though you were actually trying to _kill_ me for a second there."

"It's only training," James scoffed at him as he walked over to the medium sized white cooler that was always sitting beside the entrance. He pulled two bottles of water out of them and threw one to Matt, who caught it without looking away from James. "I'd never actually hurt you."

"When you're calm, no," Matt agreed as he opened the bottle. He paused for a moment to take a large gulp before saying, "But you're not calm right now. Lenny has you pissed off. I like him about as much as you do, but-"

"He didn't say anything about your mom," James said coldly.

"No," Matt agreed. "He just hit on, and kissed Claire."

James shook his head. Lenny Scott was an instigator. He was one of those people who would do something just because they could, and would put someone down just because they felt like it. "I should have done more to him," he sighed regretfully.

"You gave him a broken nose and two broken ribs... and some nice black eyes, if I'm not mistaken," Matt replied calmly. "What else did you want to do? Kill him?"

"You make it sound so wrong when it's so damn tempting," James replied before he took a large gulp of the water. He made a strange noise in the back of his throat as he swallowed, frowning at Matt. "If he did that all to your girlfriend, why did she force me to stop. You do know she was the one that shoved me off him, right?"

Matt nodded and then shrugged. "Have you seen all the bull she puts up with when she's with me? She's the most forgiving daughter of Hermes I know."

James shook his head at his friend's never ending awe of Claire. It was funny and slightly sickening to watch. He chuckled lowly, and Matt grinned as he nodded toward his arm. "Didn't know I got you, Tempest."

James frowned, looking down at what Matt was talking about and raised his eyebrow in wonder. "Me either." It was almost as if looking at it made it real. Immediately pain began shooting down his arm, throbbing in sync with his heartbeat, and he felt the warmth of his blood running from the cut.

Before their conversation could get any father, an all too familiar head of curly, dirty blonde hair came running in. "Guys!" Skylar Rocaine, daughter of Hermes exclaimed, a frantic look on her face. "Help! There's a new arrival; she's in trouble!"

He and Matt didn't question anything, they rarely did, as they followed Skylar outside. He could just see Thalia's pine tree past the volleyball court. A loud bark spurred his feet faster and it was him and Skylar almost neck to neck as they dashed forward. Matt was right on their heels. They hit the base of the tree and faltered to a stop at the sight below. A dark haired girl and a boy with light brown hair were running toward them. Hellhounds, large, black masses in dog form, were at their rear, and the scene didn't look as though it was going to play out to well.

James had seen the boy around camp, talking to Grover and a few of the dryads. He was a satyr, which meant that the hounds were after the girl. The boy, James thought his name started with a _B_, still had shoes on and they were effecting how quickly he could run. He'd stumbled backward a few steps, and there was no way he was going to be able to make it away from the hounds. The girl seemed to realize that too, because she spun around and sprinted toward the danger.

He was trying to figure out if she was brave or stupid, but knew that if he didn't help out, it wouldn't matter. As if they had made a silent agreement, the three of them dashed down the hill, toward the scene of the fighting. James was halfway toward the pair when the boy tripped over a rock and hit his head on a tree, going completely limp. The girl found a fallen tree branch, just as one of the hounds came at her. It was huge, the size of a garbage truck, and James had a feeling that she was going to need much more than a branch to do any sort of damage, but he had to give her something for inventiveness.

As the dog leapt at her, she swung it like a baseball player trying to hit a home run. He heard the crunching noise of her improvised weapon hitting home, right on the beast's snout. He heard it whimper in slight pain, and then growl. Her branch had hit hard enough to break into splinters, and all she had succeeded in achieving was pissing it off. They all jumped toward her, and he acted impulsively. Feeling a tugging in his gut, he concentrated on the sky above her and lightning struck down, hitting the closest dog, giving her time to run, and them time to get to her.

Slight problem, however, she just froze and looked up at them stupidly. "Look out!" Skylar screamed desperately. It seemed to shake some sense into her, but it was much too late. She turned around in time to get tackled by the three remaining monsters. They made it to the girl a second later and he sliced through the first creature, Skylar and Matt both taking one out while they were distracted. Once they were in the clear, all three knelt down around Seph and tried to figure out what to do.

James swore at the alarming amount of blood that she was already losing. He didn't know whether to try and apply pressure on it, or to rush her to Will. Normally his mind wasn't so panicky, and he was able to consider different courses of action for different wounds, but he couldn't think of one immediately.

The entire day had been one huge overcast, so he wasn't exactly shocked that it began raining around the barriers of the camp, but it didn't mean that he wasn't angry about the inconvenience of it. Any other time. It could have picked any other time to start pouring!

He was looking at Skylar and Matt for some kind of answers, one lived outside of camp long enough to know a good amount of first aid, and the other was Will Solace, son of Apollo's, girlfriend. Neither seemed to be fountains of information, both too busy gawking at the harsh stomach wounds. He looked down at her, feeling angry and resigned to rushing her up to the infirmary to operate and give her at least a partial chance to heal, and realized that the cut was closing on its own.

"How is she doing that?" Skylar asked in almost a whisper.

"I dunno," Matt muttered, looking confused with a slight frown on his face. "Maybe she's a daughter of Apollo with some strange healing abilities."

"Never seen a child of Apollo with black hair," James replied. "And I don't know what's going on, and despite Camp Jupiter teaching me a bit of first aid, I have no experience as a healer. We need to get her to someone who knows what they're doing."

He didn't wait for a reply as he leaned forward and placed an arm behind her neck and under her knees. He pushed himself off the ground and began walking toward the pine tree. He could feel his arm stinging where Matt had sliced it open, and the exertion that he was putting it through was killing him. He wanted to rush to the infirmary so he could set her down, but he knew that the grass was slick and was only getting wetter as the rain began beating down with even more intensity.

He had to squint to see in the downpour, and with some relief, he saw Will and a few of his siblings waiting beside Thalia's pine tree with wide eyes and curious expressions. As soon as Will was close enough to take the situation in, he began rattling off orders, commanding people to bring disinfectants, sedatives, and a lot of nectar.

"You have no business carrying her," Will muttered as they were walking toward the infirmary. "Not with that cut in your arm."

"It's fine, Doctor Solace," James quipped.

"Is that why you're wincing every time you walk?" Will questioned dryly, "or is that just for dramatic effect?"

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**Thank you all who read this! Leave a comment before you leave. Tell me what you think and what you would like to see more of.**


	2. The Strangest Talk Ever

_**Seph:**_

When she woke up, she felt woozy, dizzy, and like she was burning with a very high fever. Her eyes fluttered open and she found herself looking at the faces of three curious people. Two girls and one guy. One of the girls, the one with long, dirty blonde hair, mischievous blue eyes, and a build like a runner, was familiar. So was the guy. He had curly brown hair, deep brown eyes, and looked strong enough to throw her the length of a football field. The unfamiliar one was a tall girl with straight black hair, green eyes she looked to be around fourteen or so.

Seph was only fifteen herself, but she was nowhere near as tall. She felt nervous despite the fact that they didn't have hostile expressions. Maybe it was due to the fact that her stomach was killing her and she didn't know, or remember, why. All she remembered was her parents dropping her and Bryan off by a strange hill. That's all it took to get her to panic.

She shot straight up, causing the curious faces to jerk out of her way. "Bryan!" she shouted, looking all around, ignoring the already fading pain in her abdomen.

"He's fine," a calm voice from her left side said. She turned and saw that a guy with bright blonde hair, nicely tanned skin, and pretty blue eyes spoke. She was wondering if everyone in the building was handsome. He casted her a blinding white smile, "He took a nice hit to the head, but _you_ were the source of our worries. Magnet for trouble?"

"I..." she trailed off, suddenly finding the wooden floor and white sheets interesting. She looked around, she was in a long room, which was lit up with natural light from open windows. It felt sterile, just like a hospital despite being made out of wood.

"Of course she's a magnet for trouble," a new, cold voice said. "She ran toward the hounds."

"Shut up, James," the blonde girl snapped.

Seph's eyes traveled back toward the blonde boy, and beside him where a guy was sitting on a chair next to him. She blinked, this guy wasn't just handsome...actually the first word that came to her mind was hot. A blush came to her face at the thought. He had messy black hair and electric blue eyes that seemed to pop because against his hair. His frame was slim and muscular, and he seemed to have an aura of power around him despite the fact that the blonde guy was patching up a large and painful looking cut on his arm.

He met her gaze and raised and eyebrow. "You do understand that you're supposed to run away from large dogs that can make you an appetizer, right?"

She didn't reply. She was too busy trying to piece together what little of ordeal she remembered. Four huge black dogs, her and Bryan trying to get to the top of the hill for some stupid reason, but he had stumbled backward because of some muscular disorder in his legs. She had turned around to help him. After that, she remembered a fallen branch, a bolt of lightning, three teenagers, and pain. A lot of pain.

"Quit being a jerk," the black haired girl scolded James. "Do you think she needs to hear your mouth. It's how you make friends; did you really think you could do that with your good looks?"

"Well," James replied, a smile twitching on his lips. "I did actually."

She heard the large curly haired boy and the blonde boy start laughing quietly. Both girls just shot him exasperated looks.

"Ignore him," the dark haired girl said, flashing her a polite smile. "He's an idiot." She paused for a moment as James made an indignant noise, but continued as if she hadn't heard him. "But he's one of a kind. I'm McKenna Suave."

Seph managed a smile in return and introduced herself. "If you don't mind me asking, where am I?"

"You're in the infirmary in our camp," the blonde girl, who had introduced herself as Skylar Rocaine, replied. "If you're worried about Bryan, don't, he's already awake and out with a few of his friends."

"Wait?" Seph asked. "Bryan goes to camp? How, he can barely walk."

"It's a long story," McKenna said, rubbing the back of her neck nervously. "I...Bryan doesn't have a problem walking, but he trots when he walks."

"Trots?" Seph questioned. "People don't trot. Horses and donkeys trot."

James snorted loudly, cutting off the conversation as he got to his feet. "You don't wanna say that in front of Bryan. He'd take that as offensive."

"I didn't mean to compare him to an animal," Seph said hastily.

"Its not that," the curly haired boy, who called himself Matt said. "He doesn't like to be compared to a donkey."

Seph blinked at them and shook her head. "I don't-"

"Let's start from the beginning," McKenna suggested.

"Of what?" Seph demanded.

"I say you just tell her," James replied, crossing his arms as he leaned against the wall beside her bed. He casted her a bored look before continuing. "Can't be much worse than ripping off a bandaid."

Seph was quickly starting to dislike James. The blonde guy, Will, started speaking after a moment. "You're dyslexic and ADHD."

Seph frowned. "How did you-"

"Because we're all like that," James informed her. His tone made it sound as though she was supposed to know all of this already.

"Why?" she questioned, waiting for an exasperated answer from James.

"We'll get to that in a minute," Skylar said, patting her shoulder supportively. "This may seem slightly random, but how much do you know about Greek and Roman mythology?"

"_What_ does that have to do with anything?" Seph demanded. "I have no idea where I am, you seem to all have the same issues as I do, and my friend suddenly has no problems with his legs. Why are you asking me about-"

"Just answer the damned question," James snapped at her, frowning slightly.

"Look," Seph said, finally fed up. "I don't know who you think you are, but-"

"I know exactly who I am," James informed her. "You're the one who doesn't know. Now, if you want an explanation from someone who is going to be kind enough to give you one, then answer her questions!"

Seph glared at him, his mouth pissing her off. "James," Skylar said exasperatedly. "She has a right to be weary! Now if you're not gonna play nice, you can go."

James tore his eyes from Seph and looked over at Skylar, his expression shocked. It was almost as if he wasn't used to being snapped at by her.

He finally just shrugged and said, "Whatever, carry on."

Skylar looked back at Seph expectantly. "How much do you know?"

"A bit," she shrugged. "Had it when I was younger in school. I know the gods like Zeus, Hermes, Hades, Poseidon, Apollo, Aphrodite...and a few monsters, like the Hydra. I know that the Romans took over Greece and used the Greek gods, just under different names. I know a few of the myths, like the one about the labyrinth. What does this have to do with anything, though?"

"It'll all make sense in a moment," Skylar assured her. "Just let me ask one more question."

Seph bit back her impatience, and nodded.

"Who do you live with?" she asked.

She almost asked why it mattered, but remembered James' aggravating response the first time and decided against a repeat. "My mother and step dad."

"Okay," Will said, walking over and placing a hand over Seph's. "I don't want you to take this in any negative kind of way when we tell you this."

"Tell me what?" Seph questioned.

Everyone was silent, as if they were afraid to tell her anything. James just sighed loudly, and began talking. "Gods, you act like this is the first time you guys ever broke the news to someone." He looked directly at Seph, his blue eyes emotionless as he spoke. "You're at Camp Half-Blood. A safe haven for demigods, like yourself, your father is one of the Greek gods, we don't know who. Your friend, Bryan, is a satyr who was sent out to schools to find demigods, like you, and escort them here safely before monsters can get at them. He failed, obviously, because you almost died about an hour ago."

It was quiet for a few moments before McKenna seemed to snap out of her shock first. She let her hand fly and cuffed James over the head. "You idiot! You could have at least been a bit more gentle about it!"

"That's how I'd wanna be told," James replied with a shrug, not looking perturbed by getting smacked around in the least. "Like a bandaid being ripped off."

"Alright," Seph said, nodding. "I've been sent to a loony bin. I knew that there was something off with my head, but I never thought my parents would actually admit me to a nuthouse."

"You're not in an asylum," Matt assured her. "Tell me, have you ever done something, or seen something that you really couldn't explain?"

"You mean like the garbage truck sized dog?" she asked weakly.

They all nodded. Seph thought back to her childhood. The large man with one eye at the market, the green woman that sounded like a snake. Her third grade teacher that growled more than she talked. They had all happened when she was younger, but she chalked it up to an overactive imagination, like her mother had told her. It had made sense. Heck it still made more sense than the story she was being fed.

"I..." she said, trailing off as she tried to find a ways to reason with these people. "Even if there were...demigods, what makes you think I'm one of them? I can't pay attention long enough to complete a quest like the heroes did in ancient Greece. Heck, I'm pretty sure I couldn't even read a map correctly because the directions would start to mess with me. I think you got the wrong girl."

"Why do they always say that?" James asked looking around for anyone to answer.

"You're saying that you immediately believed that you were the son of Jupiter?" Matt challenged.

"If you were nine, and you woke up with a snarling wolf explaining everything to you before you began training, would you believe it? Because I sure as hell was not gonna argue with her," he shot back.

"What wolf?" Seph demanded, suddenly nervous. She didn't care what the people wanted to tell her, but if they threw her to some wild wolf for a snack, she might have a problem.

"Wrong camp," McKenna said, apparently noting her obvious distress. "No wolves here. James is just the black sheep, you see, he's Roman."

James muttered a few choice words under his breath as he shot McKenna a withering look. McKenna, to her credit, beamed at the not-so-nice phrases as if they were compliments.

"There is no 'wrong camp,'" Seph snapped. "If this is some elaborate prank because I don't have a father, you all can just stop now! Because it really isn't funny."

"Don't flatter yourself," James said. "I have better things to do with my time than prank you."

"Yeah," Skylar quipped. "Like putting Lenny in the infirmary."

"Asshole was asking for it," James snapped.

"Shut up!" a voice that sounded dazed by pain shouted from across the room.

_Great_, she thought dryly. _He's impatient _and_ violent._

"Look, Seph," Skylar said, grinning. "Before you woke up, I saw the state of your clothes and figured that you could probably use a spare shirt..." she knelt down and picked up a black nylon bag that said **CHB** in orange letters. "So I got you these, courtesy of the camp store. You missed dinner, but the campfire is about to start and maybe once you see a big more of the outside, you might have a more open mind on the matter."

Seph figure that it was probably the kindest offer she was going to get in the near future, and it was probably the only way she was really going to see what was going on. She eyed the bag wearily, and Skylar gave her a teasing smile, and said, "It's not gonna bite you, I promise."

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**I hope you enjoyed! I know I loved writing it!**

_**Preview:**_

_**"Good evening, campers!" Chiron called out, he was responded with an enthusiastic cheer. "I would like to congratulate Clarisse on winning the opening wrestling tournament," various boos and cheers echoed through the bleachers as the campers displayed their opinions of the girl. "Annabeth and McKenna for winning the chariot races, and Tyson, who had to leave for building the chariot. And lastly, we have a new camper among us!"**_

_**The clapping died and the people closest to her were looking, and she could feel the gaze of the rest of them digging into her back. Skylar nudged her side gently and Seph, getting the hint, stood up nervously.**_

_**"Seph Current," Chiron introduced.**_


	3. A Campfire and a Centaur

_**Seph:**_

The campfire was...different. Everyone was talking, laughing, and singing along to the most ridiculous songs that she had ever heard. Skylar was beside her, along with another, rather short girl with brown hair and blue eyes named Claire; she was Matt's girlfriend. On the way to the campfire, the small group had explained some very strange concepts to her regarding the setup of the camp. Like the cabins. They were arranged by godly parents.

She was with the Hermes cabin, because he wasn't picky about who he sponsored. Matt was a son of Ares, and she saw him sitting beside his siblings, both the girls and the guys were big and burly, looking as though they would all kill for a fight...literally. Will was a son of Apollo, and sat at the front of the Amphitheater, along with the rest of his cabin, who had the same blonde hair and blue eyes as he did. They were leading the sing along. McKenna was a daughter of Poseidon, and was the only one in her cabin for a few more days, until her brother, Percy Jackson, would show up for the summer. She sat beside the other campers that made up the big three cabins, which, apparently, consisted of Zeus/Jupiter, Poseidon/Neptune, and Hades/Pluto. She sat, talking to a boy with black hair, deep brown eyes and lightly tanned skin. James sat on her other side, occasionally talking to both of them, a crooked smirk would appear on his face every now and then before he would say something that got the three of them laughing.

"So," Skylar said over the talking. "How do you like the festivities?"

Seph smiled and shook her head. "I've never seen anything quite like this. It's just a lot to process, and I'm still wondering if this is just a dream."

"I could pinch you if you'd like," she joked. "Though from the looks of it, you might want James to do it instead."

Seph flushed slightly at the insinuation. "I just learned about Greek gods being real, and you're trying to tell me that I'm a demigod. The last thing on my mind is any guy."

"If that's the case," Skylar said, a smirk appearing on her face "why do you keep looking at him?"

Seph remained silent, feeling her face flush even more.

Skylar just nudged her side while Claire laughed lightly. "Sky, leave the poor girl alone. Besides, James isn't anyone she wants to get tangled up with when she just got here."

Skylar shrugged, "It's nothing to be ashamed of. He isn't a bad looking guy, only problem is that he knows it."

"I've noticed that," Seph said quietly.

"He's always been arrogant," Skylar shrugged. "For as long as I've known him, anyways. Beneath that, though, he's actually a caring, sensitive, and loving guy."

Seph couldn't help but snort. "That must be awfully deep down."

"You know," Claire said, patting Seph on the shoulder. "Instead of gossiping about boys, which would most likely get Matt and Will pissed off, why don't we tell her about some of the camp activities?"

"What kind of activities does a Greek camp have?" Seph questioned.

"The kind that keep you alive outside of camp," Skylar replied. "Like swordfighting."

"With real, and pointy swords?" Seph asked nervously.

"Well, you can't exactly gut something with a fake or dull one can you?" Claire chuckled. "Don't worry though, you'll get taught how"

"And if you don't want to go before your time, don't challenge anyone from the Ares cabin," Skylar suggested.

Seph took it all in without saying a word. The girls started going back and forth, eagerly naming different activities from archery to chariot races. Seph didn't think she was too keen on very many of the courses, and the thought most of them frightened her. Who would climb a lava wall, with real lava, for fun.

She listened to them talk excitedly about each activity as the singing went on around her. Just when they got on to the topic of Arts and Crafts, and the Apollo cabin finished a song about their grandmother getting dressed for war, silence began settling through the crowd. She heard the sound of clopping hooves and then a man on a horse came dashing through. He turned around and Seph thought that she might actually be hallucinating, because that was not a man on a horse. That was some strange mixture of the two. His top half was a man with a balding head, and a kind smile, but, starting at his waist, he was white stallion.

"Did you guys slip me hallucinogenic drugs?" Seph demanded weakly, taring her eyes off the horse-man combination. Seph thought they were called centaurs.

"No," Skylar promised. "You're not crazy. This is Chiron. He's our trainer."

Seph frowned, wondering where she had heard that name before. It sounded familiar, probably from some Greek myth or another.

"Your trainer is part horse?" she asked after a moment.

"Yep," she said. "You should have been here when the party ponies were here. Talk about a good time!"

"Party Ponies," Seph asked with a slight amount of difficulty. She might have asked what they were, but she was already processing enough for one day.

"Good evening, campers!" Chiron called out, he was rewarded with an enthusiastic cheer. "I would like to congratulate Clarisse on winning the opening wrestling tournament," various boos and cheers echoed through the bleachers as the campers displayed their opinions of the girl. "Annabeth and McKenna for winning the chariot races, and Tyson, who had to leave early, for building the winning chariot. And lastly, we have a new camper among us!"

The clapping died down, she could see the people closest to her looking, and she could feel the gaze of the rest of them digging into he back of her neck. Skylar nudged her side gently and Seph, getting the hint, stood up nervously.

"Seph Current," Chiron introduced.

"Who's her parent?" a voice called out. "She looks too old to be an undecided."

Seph guessed she wouldn't mind knowing that either. If her parent really were an all powerful god on Olympus, he should have a damn fine excuse for never stopping by for the past sixteen years of her life. She looked around at the others as she silently sat down, wondering if their godly parent had ever bothered stopping by and saying hello. Somehow she doubted it.

"What's an undecided?" she whispered to Skylar.

"A demigod that doesn't know who their godly parent is. They stay in the Hermes cabin until their parents see fit to claim them."

"How long will that take?" she asked, tucking a stray piece of hair behind her ear anxiously.

"It depends," Claire said, patting her back. "But you should know before the night's up. They're not supposed to leave children unclaimed."

Before Seph could form a reply along the lines of _well apparently my dad didn't get the memo_, a greenish blue light spilled over the crowd. Everyone looked at her, their eyes wide and stricken. That was when she realized that they weren't looking _at_ her, they were looking _above_ her. She looked up and saw the fading light of a trident.

She remembered enough of Greek mythology to know who carried around a trident. "Oh boy," Skylar said in a light tone that made Seph feel like she really wasn't in a light mood. "This isn't good."

All around her, people stood up, and at first Seph thought that they were going to attack her, but all they did was kneel. Somehow that felt even worse, making her impossibly more confused.

"All hail Persephone Current, Daughter of Poseidon," Chiron said loudly. The look he gave her was a sympathetic one.

* * *

_**James:**_

After Seph's 'claiming' was finished, Chiron immediately ended the campfire, stating that they could take the next hour and have some free time because he had to take care of a few things in his office. James figured that it had something to do with calling Poseidon up and asking a few questions, like how many other women he had sired children from. McKenna and Seph created a large number of kids, and at the rate he was going, they were going to have a bunch of earth-shaking, wave-making demigods on their hands, and, if any of them were like Seph, he was likely to start world war three with the entire group of them.

Seph was too shy and timid for his taste. He liked abrasive, in your face, people. Those were the ones that he knew what they were capable of. He had already tried getting a rise out of her, seeing if he could pull out a more openly hostile person, but she had gotten angry at him, and calmed down afterward, practically ignoring him. It was strange and suspicious. He watched from a few feet back as he followed McKenna and Zach, a son of Hades, who were walking up to her and Skylar.

She was looking around with wide, green eyes, stopping when she spotted him, before hurriedly flickering on to the other people around her. Her amazement was obvious, and slightly amusing. He walked over to them after a moment, overhearing Skylar offer to give Seph the grand tour.

"You'd love to see the sound, and the lava wall...not to mention," she gestured around to the cabins that encircled them, "your cabin. It's really cool, you'll love what Percy and McKenna have done with the place!"

"With the future taking such a drastic turn," James said as he made over to them, "I figured that the sword arena and a weapon would be the first thing you had in mind for her."

Seph refused to look at him as he walked up. Had he actually managed to scare the newbie into silence?

"We figured," McKenna said, "that we would start worrying about the future when she's all settled. Why are you so concerned?"

James shrugged, "You guys know me, I'm just a caring sort of person."

All of the group, even Seph, snorted in amusement.

"What do you mean by the future?" Seph asked, brushing a few strands of hair behind her ear as she looked up at him.

"Probably not my place to tell you," James sighed, running a hand through his hair, most likely getting it to stand up. He flattened it before shrugging. "Chiron'll wanna tell you, and I'm not gonna spoil your surprise."

"I have a feeling," Seph replied, "that I'm not going to like the surprise."

"Probably not," James agreed. "But if you'll excuse me, I've got to clean dishes in lava with those hags that keep the kitchen up."

He enjoyed the look of blank incomprehension on her face as he walked away. Some of the joys of life were just too easy to come by.

* * *

**Hello readers, I hope you liked the chapter! There's plenty more to come. Thank you all who read this. If it's not too much trouble, leave your thoughts on the way out :)!**

_**Preview:**_

_**Seph scowled, "Well excuse me for not having the need to fight for my life before! This is so stupid! What am I going to possibly need know all of this for? I swear...how do you even know how to fight as well as you do?"**_

_**James frowned back and rolled off her, getting to his feet. "You're stupid. You saw what attacked you and Bryan, you couldn't do anything about it because you were inexperienced! If I wouldn't have incinerated that first hellhound, you wouldn't be here right now!"**_


	4. A New Punishment

_**James:**_

The next morning was murder. He felt better than he had the day before; all of the pain in his arm was gone, and, despite the kitchen duty he was looking forward to for the next two weeks, he couldn't say he felt that angry with Lenny anymore. That wasn't to say that James wouldn't rearrange his face first chance; it just meant that he wasn't so angry.

His head was pounding as he sat up. He knew that he wasn't feeling great, but something about that morning...well everything, really, told him it was going to be a bad day. Jason was already awake, pulling on his socks and boots as he got ready for the day. James sighed quietly as he pushed himself out of bed, a couple of moments behind his half brother.

Neither boy said anything to each other as they trooped outside. They made it to the pavilion in silence and he saw Seph talking quietly to Skylar and McKenna. He had to admit that he found her quite pretty. There was nothing over the top about her like the Aphrodite children, her looks were more subtle, the kind that you didn't see unless you looked, because she didn't flaunt them. He didn't like concealed people, so it was bugging him that he kept adverting his attention to her.

"What are you looking at?" Zach asked him as he walked up. James jumped slightly, not realizing that he hadn't been paying attention.

"Nothing," James said hastily. "I just..." he trailed off, shaking his head. He wasn't even sure what he was going to say.

Zach looked at him suspiciously, and James put on his relaxed smirk and said, "Something wrong, Bruno?"

Before the son of Hades could reply, he heard a familiar _clip-clop_ sound behind him. Turning around, he marveled at his transition, remembering when he had first arrived at camp Half-Blood, he had almost pulled a sword out every time Chiron walked by. Roman centaurs were evil, always getting drunk and starting fights.

"Hello, James," Chiron smiled warmly at him.

James smiled back and nodded his head as he said, "Good morning Chiron. What can I do for you?"

"Your punishment has been changed," he replied. "The Stolls have been given kitchen duty for the next month by Mr. D."

"So what am I doing, cleaning out stables?" James asked, crossing his arms, suspecting that whatever he was going to do, he really wasn't going to like it.

"No," Chiron replied. "You're going to put aside your free time for the next two weeks and train Ms. Current."

James opened his mouth slightly in shock. "Why do I have to do that? There have to be people here that are better suited for the job than I am! What about Annabeth?"

"_You're_ the one on punishment, Mr. Tempest," Chiron reminded him. "Besides, I figured that if you can hurt someone enough to send them into the infirmary in a couple of minutes, imagine what you could teach her in a couple of weeks."

James scowled, "If you don't mind me asking, why are you so anxious to get her trained?"

"I was talking to Rachel," Chiron admitted. "We do not have very long before the prophecy begins. She needs to be as ready as we can make her."

"Ready for what?" James demanded. "You haven't even told any of us the prophecy! How am I even supposed to train her if I don't know what she needs to be prepared for?"

"Everything," Chiron replied. "Be ready to start after breakfast, Mr. Tempest."

Taking that as a clear and final dismissal, James nodded curtly and stiffly waited until the horse man was out of hearing range before swearing violently. "I can't believe this!" he exclaimed, glaring darkly toward Seph, who was talking to Chiron, nodding as he spoke.

The look on her face was full of distress as she quickly glanced toward him. He glared back, crossing his arms. She quickly looked away and said something back to him, gesturing to Skylar and McKenna as she spoke, but Chiron just shook his head. He patted her on the shoulder and smiled reassuringly before saying one last thing and walking off.

Zach patted him on the shoulder, and smiled at him, but it wasn't reassuring like Chiron's it was taunting and teasing. "Think of it this way," he said, "you could think that she was ugly."

James scowled down at him. "And how do you know I don't?" he snapped challengingly.

Zach just shot him a _really_ look and shook his head. "Well, your eyes seems to gravitate toward her, and unless you're looking at McKenna and Skylar like that...in which case I suggest you don't..." he trailed off and raised an eyebrow, begging him to argue.

"She could look worse," James relented. The admission made him feel like he was choking on acid.

James was tempted to hit Zach for the look on his face, but before he could, Will showed up. "James, you look like Zach just told you that they were going to use you as target practice on the archery range today before you're gonna be thrown into the lava pit."

"Maybe the equivalent," Zach muttered to the blonde archer, "but I didn't say it, Chiron did."

While Will was being filled in on the hell that James was expected to go through for the next two weeks of his life, James walked off to talk to his new student.

She was talking quietly to Skylar and McKenna when he walked up. "...like me very much."

"James isn't that bad," Skylar assured. "His abrasive behavior just takes some getting used to."

That was when they realized that they had company. James crossed his arms and looked at Seph thoughtfully. "Well, I guess you're my new punishment."

"You sure you're not mine?" Seph asked, frowning at him.

"Spending extra time with me is never a punishment," he said shrugging.

Seph looked at him with a raised eyebrow, but otherwise said nothing.

"Meet me by your cabin when you're finished with breakfast. We'll start training then."

* * *

_**Seph:**_

James was leaning against the rocky exterior of her cabin as Seph walked up. His arms were crossed and he seemed bored. He watched her walk up before he pushed himself off the wall. "Come on," was all he said before he walked toward the forest.

"W-we're not going to the sword arena?" Seph asked, sounding nervous.

"On Sundays the more experienced people go in there and fight for fun," he replied. "We don't want to get in their way, and I figured you might not want people watching you when you first start." He casted a look behind him, and raised his eyebrows.

Seph just nodded in agreement.

They got to the edge of the forest, and James said, "Alright, stay close. Most of the time the monsters don't bug anyone until Friday night, but you never know."

"There are monsters in the forest?" Seph demanded in disbelief. "And you want to go in there? And why do they only come out on Friday nights?"

"Of course we're going into the forest, how else would anyone test their monster fighting techniques? And Friday is capture the flag day." He smiled a wistful smile, as if the thought of raiding a danger filled forest brought up good times.

"Wait?" Seph demanded. "You want me to fight monsters?"

"Don't be ridiculous," James said, waving his hand as they both began walking under the shade of the trees. "You would be killed in under a minute."

"Comforting," Seph muttered.

"If it makes you feel any better, its more time than I'd give the majority of the Aphrodite cabin," he offered, not even looking her way.

"It doesn't," she replied dryly, looking away from James and looking around for the first time.

The trees were beginning to get more and more dense as they went on, going from day to almost night in only a matter of minutes. The trees towered above them, their branches beginning almost six feet above her head. Leaves littered the path, and crunched every time they walked, though James seemed to be lighter on his feet than she was.

He remained shockingly silent as they walked, almost allowing for a companionable silence. They had been walking on the trail for the past twenty minutes or so, when James grabbed her upper arm and they both came to a halt. He turned directly left and his hand slid down her arm until he had her wrist in his grip. She didn't say anything about it, curious as to what he had in mind.

The trees started thinning out, until she found herself in a clearing. It was huge, open, and beautiful. The grass was a plush green, that was strangely low cut, flowers were growing randomly, and a small stream tricky through, sunlight reflecting off it.

"It's beautiful," she breathed in an amazed daze.

"Yeah," James agreed. "But we're not here to admire it. Welcome to your new training ground."

It wasn't for the first time that afternoon that she had the breath knocked out of her. James had been drilling her in hand to hand, insisting that she needed to know how to actually fight herself before using a weapon. She had gotten into a fair share of fights when she was in school. They always consisted of someone trying to either pull her hair or scratch her eye out. This was not the same.

In other fights, she was fighting a girl, a preppy girl who was afraid of getting hurt. James was by no means afraid of getting hurt...or of getting her hurt. She had been tackled and pinned so many times that she lost count. She figured that he would be cocky, and say something smart to her, but he never did. He was completely serious and professional, praising her when she did something he thought was good and clever, and telling her when she was wrong, and correcting it with a new course of action.

So there she was, for maybe about the fiftieth time that day, sprawled on the ground, her hands locked on either side of her head, and James's sweaty face maybe six inches from hers. She could imagine worse views and positions for losing a fight, pretend or not. That thought caused her to blush, but she imagined that James wouldn't notice, not with how hard she had been working. Her face was probably completely red and sweaty. She also imagined that she didn't look as attractive as James did with his shirt clinging to him and his hair damp and plastered to his face and scalp.

He stayed still for a moment, still hovering over her, trying to catch his breath, and Seph had a strange and probably stupid idea. He arched his back as he took a deep breath, and wasn't as balanced as he probably was before, taking that as an opening, she pushed as hard as she could with her left side. James yelped as he was shoved to the side. Both of them went rolling, and Seph took advantage of his surprise and locked his arms into place, her legs on either side of his torso. She smiled at her victory, even if it was technically cheating.

James just laid there, his hands beside his head, relaxing slightly as he considered her. Her smile faltered slightly as she realized that she might have angered him. Then suddenly, she felt herself moving. She yelped in surprise as she was rolled back under him. "You're inventive, aren't you?" James asked. A strange expression was on his face, it might have been humor.

"Guess so," she replied, blowing a strand of hair out of her eyes.

"Too bad you're not strong enough to use it," he commented.

Seph scowled, "Well excuse me for not having the need to fight for my life before! This is so stupid! What am I going to possibly need the for? I swear, how do you even know how to fight as well as you do?"

James frowned back and rolled off her, getting to his feet. "You're stupid. You saw what attacked you and Bryan, you couldn't do anything about it because you were inexperienced! If I wouldn't have incinerated that first hellhound, you wouldn't be here right now."

"That was you?" Seph demanded, her eyes widening in shock as she looked at him.

"Of course that was me!" James exclaimed. "I'm a son of Jupiter! It's a skill that comes in handy when I'm being attacked by monsters, which, by the way, happens a lot when you're a demigod, especially one as powerful as Jupiter, or Poseidon. And there are way more of them out there than those hounds that went after you."

Seph remained silent, feeling as though she was being scolded by one of her teachers for talking in class.

"And that, Current, is why I am teaching you how to fight, which is not as stupid as you may think. If you have a problem with the things I'm teaching you, get a new instructor after my two weeks are up," he said, finishing off his speech with a small outward gesture of his hands, as if expecting her to respond somehow.

They didn't fight after their disagreement. James told her that it was time to leave for lunch. She had a feeling that he was still annoyed with her and she felt bad. She hated the fact that she felt bad.

As they walked side by side on the trail, she didn't really pay attention to anything. She was thinking about her initial impression of James. Smartass, jerk, surly, arrogant, condescending, annoying, and he couldn't take anything seriously. Today, he was still a jerk, and he was still surly, and she was sure that his arrogance would never fade, but he had taken her training with a professional amount of seriousness that shocked her.

"You actually did pretty well for your first time," James said.

Seph blinked, looking at him for a second. "Was that a compliment, Tempest?" she questioned.

"Don't get used to it," James said, he wasn't laughing, but his lips twitched slightly at the corners.

~THEOWLOFOLYMPUS~

"McKenna," Seph said, taking a small bite of the pizza that was sitting on her plate, feeling surprisingly not hungry despite all of the work that she had done for the past few hours. "What kind of monsters are out there?"

McKenna looked at her, squinting slightly due to the bright sun shining through the roofless pavilion. "All kinds, " she replied. "Of course there are different levels of danger for each beast, but all of them could potentially kill you. You've already seen the hellhounds. Normally they aren't all that threatening if the pack isn't that large, and you know what you're doing. Then you have some dangerous ones, like emposua, which is basically like a Greek version of a vampire, except stranger. They're much more dangerous to men, who fall under their spell of charm and beauty, but they're fast and vicious."

Seph raised her eyebrows, listening to what she was explaining with rapt attention. "And how many are there?"

"A never ending amount," McKenna said, shrugging. "When they die, they turn to dust, their essence returns to Tartarus, and they reform there."

"What?" Seph demanded. "So it'll never stop, the monsters, I mean?"

McKenna shook her head. "Nah, never. It's nothing to really worry about. You'll learn everything you need to know in monster fighting class, and James'll probably teach you a few things about different beasts when he's teaching you more techniques."

Seph just shook her head. Everyone was completely casual about almost dying constantly. Why weren't they a stressed out mess?

"Look," McKenna said, patting her on the back, "James has officially psyched you out about this whole fighting business. We were all planing to use today as a swim day this week. Why don't we go out and take a dip in the sound. You're a daughter of Poseidon, it'll be good for you."

"I don't think any of this is good for me," Seph muttered, her eyes casted downward, exhaustion setting in.

* * *

**You guys are the sweetest reviewers ever! Please continue boosting my ego lol. And too in next time to read about sexy James.**

_**Preview:**_

_**"It's not fair," Skylar agreed. She elbowed Seph in the side, "James looks pretty good, doesn't he?"**_

_**That was the first time she really picked James out in the crowd, and was wondering how she hadn't before. He was wearing dark blue swimming trunks, his hair was tousled, and his bare arms were large and tanned. Hence the reason why she was speechless. **_


	5. More Than Just Looks

_**Seph:**_

She was trying to remember how to speak. Skylar lent her a bathing suit, a purple one-piece, and a huge beach towel. The guys had all walked out in swimming trunks and orange tank tops, grinning as they all walked to the sound together. Seph, McKenna, Claire, and Skylar walked leisurely there, all smiling and commenting on the guys. Of course.

"How do they look effortlessly hot?" Claire demanded, crossing her arms over her green tank top, which covered a green bikini. Seph had a sneaking suspicion that she would rather cut her tongue out of her mouth with her bronze dagger than tell any guy, especially Matt, what she just said.

"It's not fair," Skylar agreed. She elbowed Seph in the side, "James looks pretty good, doesn't he?"

That was the first time she really picked James out in the crowd, and was wondering how she hadn't before. He was wearing dark blue swimming trunks, his ink hair was tousled, and his bare arms were large and tanned. Hence the reason why she was speechless.

"I guess," she managed, taring her eyes off him.

"It's nothing to be embarrassed by," McKenna said, patting her back. "You look great too."

She remained silent as they walked the rest of the way, tugging at the shoulder of her shirt.

Other people were already out there, and it was chaos. The younger ones were kicking and screaming in the water. The prettier girls, McKenna called them daughters of Aphrodite, were laying on towels in the sun. Some were on their stomachs while guys administered lotion. Other girls were walking around the beach, hand in hand with their boyfriends, or swimming in the water, seeming to enjoy how refreshing it was.

James walked over to the pier and jumped up on a piece of the railing. Lifting himself over, he sat down on the wood, his legs dangling over the water below. "He isn't swimming?" Seph asked curiously.

Will shrugged, "He doesn't like to. Never could figure out why, though."

"What was the point of coming out here, then?" she questioned.

"He normally doesn't," Matt mused. "I guess he's still on punishment, and if he gets caught by Chiron doing nothing, he'll probably get sent on some other duty."

"Enough of that," McKenna said waving her hand as she pulled off the top she had on over her bathing suit. "Let's go swimming!"

* * *

"Are you trying to kill me, Suave?" Zach's angry voice rang through the sound. Seph had been leisurely swimming, avoiding large crowds of swimmers, not really in the mood for being looked at funnily.

She glanced over at her half sister and saw that she and Zach were really far out, she was laughing and Zach looked as though he was ready to kill. She heard a laugh, and jumped slightly. She hadn't realized she had swam so close to the pier.

Looking up, she saw James seated about six feet above her. "What's so funny?" she called up.

"Didn't see what Kenna did to Zach?" James asked. "He splashed her in the face, and well...don't challenge a child of Poseidon to a splash fight."

"So you're saying that I could beat even you at a splash fight?" Seph questioned, a small smile coming to her face as she hovered in the water right under him.

"Yeah," he replied. "You could even beat me. I don't do much with water, though, so you'll never be able to test it."

"Why not?" she asked. "I think it's a great idea?"

"You trying to convince me to come down there?" James asked, an eyebrow raised while a small smile tugged at his lips.

Seph shrugged, grinning back, "And if I am?"

"You're doing a pretty good job," James replied, "Except, I'm still not going down there. You can come up here with me."

"I don't know," Seph sighed, enjoying the smooth feeling of the water against her arms as she moved them. "It's pretty nice out here...what's in it for me?"

"My amazing company," he said, spreading his arms, as if showing off the awesomeness of him. He, then, pulled his shirt off, and said, "You trying to tell me you don't wanna see this up close?"

"That has got to be the most arrogant thing I've ever heard you say," she replied, glad that the water was cooling her enough to stop her cheeks from flaring.

"Huh," James said, tapping his chin with his finger, "gonna have to work on that..." He winked at her and said, "Normally I'm smooth enough to say something totally arrogant and no one says a thing about it."

"Sure they're not just too enchanted by your stunning looks?" Seph asked dryly.

"Never thought of that," James mused, his legs swinging carelessly. "But that would mean that you're not captured by them. "

"Is it that hard to believe?" Seph questioned.

"Yeah," James replied easily, as if they were commenting on the weather. "Because if you weren't enamored by them, then you wouldn't be here talking to me, you'd be talking to the pretty boys who're splashing each other in the water on the other side of the pier."

Seph snorted, "Well, pretty boys aren't really my type, but then again, I've never seen an arrogant big head that was my type either."

"That's because they're all talk and no substance," he replied easily. "If you haven't noticed, my arrogance isn't unfounded."

"Sure it isn't, Tempest," Seph said, rolling her eyes.

He smiled crookedly at her as he shrugged, "I've got two weeks, I'll make a believer out of you."

* * *

It didn't take two weeks to make a believer out of Seph. The arrogance that he felt about his abilities was there for a reason. The others were confident too, though not as blatant about it. All of them were graceful and deadly with a sword or dagger, and Will was also amazing with a bow and some arrows. James had taken the group of them back there and had Seph sit on the side lines while they fought hand to hand, watching how they all brought each other down with different moves. Of course the lesson turned into a contest, and Seph got to watch, amazed, as the group fought each other with and without weapons. All of them were talking trash, and laughing at each other by the time they all called it a day.

It was Friday, and everyone was excited for Capture the flag, and apparently the famous Percy Jackson was going to be there that night. Apparently Seph had another brother that she didn't even know about. She was admittedly excited to meet him, after hearing so many bizarre stories about him. She even began believing half of them, finally starting to swallow the fact that she was actually a Half-Blood, and that her mother had lied to her all those years. As much as Seph adored her mother, she hadn't even thought of contacting her, feeling a bit wounded by the fact that she had suddenly dropped this whole new life on her with no heads up.

She was so distracted by everything that was going on, that after the fourth time James tackled her to the ground in their training session, he asked her if she was okay.

"I'm fine," she said with an attempted wave of her hand, but since James had her pinned down, it was impossible to do.

He rolled off her and sat beside her, his knees pulled to his chest. "You're sure about that? I was going to try and get you a bit familiar with fighting with a weapon, but if you're distracted, I don't want you near anything sharp."

"Yeah," Seph said. "I just picked a bad time to think about everything that's happened since last Saturday. You act like everything's so normal."

"That's because to me it is. You were just another mortal last week, now you're a daughter of Poseidon, who has to learn how to survive," he shrugged. "Not many half bloods make it very long into adulthood, the better prepared you are, the longer you live. Nothing'll ever be normal again. You might as well get used to it."

"Heartwarming speech," Seph muttered, earning a snort from James.

"Yeah, well, not all of us have the warming ability that Skylar does to make everyone feel amazing after they've talked."

"Now," Seph said. "Am I fit enough to fight with a weapon?"

"Did they issue you a sword?" James questioned.

"I found this under my pillow the second night I was in my cabin," she held up a metal sea green bracelet. There was a trident engraved in the middle, and a single word in ancient Greek that translated into tsunami. "I unclasped it, and it changed into a sword...I freaked out, screamed and dropped it, waking McKenna up. She told me that it was most likely a gift from our father, and that I should wear it just in case."

"You know," James remarked dryly, "you're not supposed to be afraid of your weapon."

"Have I ever told you that your humor sucks?" Seph questioned.

"No," he mused. "First time yet..." He grinned and shook his head, jumping up. "Capture the Flag is tonight, and you need to know how to hold that sword without killing yourself."

"Should I take that as an insult?" Seph questioned, rising to her feet slowly after James.

"Probably," he sighed. "Now, let's see if you're better with pointy objects than without them."

* * *

**You guys ready for capture the flag? 'Cause I so am! I hope you all enjoyed the chapter! Review on your way out?**

_**Preview:**_

_**"Run!" Skylar commanded suddenly, startling everyone as she jumped forward, tackling Will.**_


	6. Capture the Flag

_**Seph:**_

It turned out tripping and stumbling through the forest with James was not the same as with Skylar. She was nicer, but when Seph fell, she wasn't there to catch her with a smart comment, that was the ground's new job, and it was silent. She was already scraped and bruised from her practice with James earlier that day. He informed her that she would have some natural skill with a blade, every demigod did, but that didn't mean that James had any problem beating her numerous times, almost immediately. She had a feeling that she would end up beating him only if he had his eyes closed, was unarmed, and his hands were bound together behind his back...and he would still probably be hard to beat.

They all would.

Skylar was walking along side her, chattering about Will, the camp, Will, running, Will, stealing, Will, pranks she pulled with James, Will, oh and Will. From his blonde hair to his blue eyes. She would probably never be able to look at the son of Apollo the same way again; it was disturbing. Seph was wondering why Skylar was confident with talking so loudly, and she said that it was because they were just a distracter pair. She looked around her, trying to remember which cabins she was supposed to fight against.

She knew they were teamed up with the Hades, Hermes, Demeter, Hephaestus, and Dionysus cabins. They were against Zeus Apollo, Athena, and Ares. She was admittedly nervous, but Skylar's cheerful behavior made everything better.

"So," Skylar said, elbowing her side playfully. "Any eye candy yet for you?"

Seph felt like a fish out of water, gaping at her shameless friend. Her thoughts shot to a certain black haired, blue eyed boy, but she immediately tore it away from him. "No," she managed to choke out.

Skylar rolled her eyes and shook her head. "Don't be ridiculous."

"She's not being ridiculous," a voice from behind her stated. "Almost all the guys here are pricks."

"And you're not?" Skylar demanded, turning around. Seph didn't want to, because she knew that voice all too well.

"Didn't say that, but if she didn't have a crush on her sword instructor, there'd be something wrong." She turned around just in time for James to send a wink in her direction, increasing her embarrassment exponentially.

"Hey," she snapped. "Can we please stop talking about me as if I'm not actually here?"

Before either person could say anything, Will Solace materialized out of the trees behind James's back, his arrow pointed directly at Skylar.

Skylar cursed, an annoyed look on her face, and her stance tensed. Then she relaxed a grin appearing, and her hands spread out on either side of her. "Looks like we're in a bit of a bind, Seph."

"Then tell me," Seph said, trying to hide the nervousness in her voice, "why are you so damn cheerful?"

"Run!" Skylar commanded suddenly, startling everyone as she jumped forward, tackling Will.

Not questioning her, she turned around and dashed through the trees. Of course, she heard hurried footsteps behind her.

James:

James figured that Will could handle himself, and honestly he probably wouldn't fight too hard against Skylar once he was pinned to the ground, she tended to fight dirty, one reason why he didn't want to stick around. He darted after Seph. She wasn't exactly quiet, but she was pretty fast. He couldn't see her through the trees, but he knew that if he didn't find her, someone else was bound to, gods forbid if it was someone from the Ares cabin...other than Matt, that is.

Trying to tone his worry down slightly, he sped up, wishing he had some sort of tracking skills. Sadly, he wasn't a son of Artemis. He heard footsteps ahead of him, padding against the grass quickly; he was gaining on her. He broke through a clearing, and saw her silhouette dashing past the thinner trees. Feeling a tugging in his gut, he willed the wind to blow behind him. He heard her shriek as she tumbled backward halfway across the clearing.

"Are you crazy?" James demanded weakly as he hauled her to her feet, and knocked her sword out of her hand. She didn't even fight him, fear from his anger was obvious on her face despite how desperately she tried to hide it. He didn't care, though. "You almost ran into an Ares cabin ambush! I don't even think Matt's with them! They'd send you to the infirmary again so fast..."

He trailed off, shaking his head. He didn't know why he was so angry with her, she didn't know what she was going to walk into; that was the point. "They're vicious," James snapped at her, letting her go and pacing. "They don't stop fighting once you're pinned," he informed her. "They're all bloodthirsty lunatics, and you...you wouldn't have stood a chance."

Seph remained where she was through her undeserved scolding, and James came to a conclusion. He walked back over to her and growled, "I don't care if we're on different teams, don't run from me in this forest. Ever."

She quickly nodded, avoiding eye contact. "Damn it, Seph," he snapped, forcing her chin up to look at him, "I want your word."

The look in her eyes hardened and she shoved him away angrily. "Why do you even care?" she snapped back. "You only fuss at me, and...and how was I supposed to know about the ambush! You act like it's my fault that you and Will attacked me and Skylar! I was just listening to my partner's command and I didn't do a very good job!"

"Why are you so stubborn?" James demanded, feeling like pulling his hair out. "You act as though I'm trying to hurt you! I just stopped you from getting mauled!"

Her eyes narrowed at him as she pointed her finger at his chest. "Why did you stop me?"

"You don't question something like that, dammit!" James exclaimed. "I'm regretting doing it more and more every second!"

"Then let me go," Seph demanded, but before she could move, James was already there, his hand clasped around her wrist like an iron cuff.

"I don't think so," he said, a strained smile on his face, as he pulled her back toward him. "I caught you fair and square."

Seph scowled, and pushed against his chest while trying to break her arm free of his grip. He simply tripped her and she fell to the grass, James followed her down, pinning her in place like he did everyday.

"Tempest!" a familiar growl sounded from the back of the clearing. "What the hell are you doing? We could hear you all the way through the trees in the next clearing!"

"Everything's fine, La Rue," James growled. "Go back to your station."

"Give me the prisoner and I will," Clarisse replied.

"I've got it covered," James snapped, never taking his eyes off Seph.

"You need to get back to your job," Clarisse told him. "This isn't anytime you to be messing around with some girl, let's go!"

"You know, I don't take too kindly to that insinuation," he growled at her, finally taring his eyes off the stunned daughter of Poseidon.

"That's just too-"

Clarisse's taunt was cut off by a loud horn. Everyone knew what that meant. Clarisse didn't even finish speaking, she dashed out of the clearing, leaving him alone with a very confused, and most likely angry Seph.

He jumped off her, backing away to give her a bit of space. "Come on, we need to get to the pavilion."

"Why?" she demanded, brushing herself off after she rose to her feet.

"That was the emergency horn," James replied impatiently. He reached over and grabbed her hand, figuring that he wrist had suffered enough abuse. "We've gotta go."

He dragged her through the trees, snapping at her to watch her step every time she stumbled. Growls started emitting from in front of them. He cursed and stopped, yanking Seph behind him.

"What are you doing?" she demanded angrily. He had heard that tone everyday for the past week, and didn't have to turn around to know that she was scowling up at the back of his head. In any other situation, he would have found it humorous.

"Shut up!" he snapped. He immediately turned ninety degrees to his right and dashed forward, possibly wrenching Seph's arm out of its socket, but he figured he'd rather her be alive and yelling at him for it later.

She didn't question him, only whimpered in slight pain before struggling to catch up with him. He saw the remains of Zeus' Fist. Looking beside him, he saw a frightened Seph, breathing harshly. "Climb the rocks," he demanded. "I'll get rid of the monsters."

"Are you crazy?" Seph demanded. "You'll get hurt!"

"And if I don't, you'll die," James informed her. "Now move!"

She looked at James, and James swore, "Go! Please, Seph, get out of here! I'll be fine!"

Seph backed away from him, a look of reluctance on her face as she stumbled toward Zeus's fist. She got maybe halfway there when everything went sour. She shrieked and jumped backward as a dog seal mixture. A telekhine came bounding after her. They hated children of the sea god.

She was fumbling for her sword...which was in James' pocket... James saw two more of the telekhines advancing toward him. He backed up, but before he could do anything, he heard Seph screaming. Turning around, he saw her falling into a huge pit. He felt a claw tare into his back and spun around, taking out one of the sea dogs before it could take a chunk out of him. "Seph!" he cried as he fended off the second beast, his back screaming at him to be watched because he knew that there was still a monster behind him.

"I'm fine!" she called out, filling him with relief.

He ducked as the monster swiped at him with its large claw and brought his sword around, catching it in the shoulder. It yelped in pain as it disintegrated. James didn't have any time for a victory pat on the back, because as he turned around, he saw that the last remaining monster was on him. He felt the breath knock out of him as he crash landed on the ground, the beast's paws digging into his stomach and chest. He held its snout away from his face with difficulty and tried to push it off him. Taking his free arm, he twisted slightly, feeling his flesh taring as he moved, and elbowed at it as hard as he could. It yelped loudly, and James took that time to grab his sword from the ground beside him and slash it at its neck. It began turning into dust as it fell.

"James?" Seph's worried voice echoed from the hole.

At that, James just had to laugh despite the pain he was in. "You know, that's the first time you've ever called me by my first name."

"Are you okay?" she demanded, ignoring him.

"I'm fine," he managed, getting to his feet and walking over to the gaping hole in the ground. Seph was looking up at him, and the look in her eyes was one of pure worry. "We might have a bit of a problem."

"Well, sinkholes are never-"

"This isn't a sinkhole," Seph informed him. "It's a tunnel, and you know the stories I've been hearing everywhere, well...there's a delta on the wall."

**Thanks for reading! Leave a review on your way out!**

_**Preview:**_

_**"That was a prophecy," he explained. "I think you were just issued a quest."**_


	7. The Prophecy

_**James:**_

James jumped down himself and looked at what she was talking about, praying that she was mistaken. Of course she wasn't. He punched the wall harshly swearing under his breath from the sharp pain in his knuckles, "You've gotta be kidding me!"

"I thought you told me that you were okay," Seph snapped at him angrily.

"What are you talking about?" he questioned wearily.

"You're bleeding," she said, stepping closer and looking at his shirt, which was torn to shreds and bloodied.

"I've had worse," he replied. "I'll be fine. What about you, did you break anything in the fall, and your shoulder, how does it feel?"

"It just hurts," she shrugged. "I'll be okay."

James abruptly leaned down, latched his arm around her waist and tried not to roll his eyes as she flinched. Jason was the expert when it came to flying, but James had enough power over it to get out of the tunnel. As soon as they rose off the ground, Seph inhaled sharply and latched on to him, her face buried into the non-ripped portion of his chest. Acrophobic.

When they touched solid ground again, he let her go and she released him a second after. "Sorry," she muttered.

"That'll probably be the closest I'll ever get to a hug from you, so no problem," he replied jokingly.

There were no monster attacks while they were walking back. James' eyes kept flickering to Seph, catching her glancing at him every so often. His hand still held hers firmly as they broke through the trees, ensuring that they didn't get separated. Chiron was standing in the middle of the stone structure. They walked in as he was finishing his speech. James walked over to where Skylar and Will were standing, their faces stricken.

"What's going on?" he demanded over the chattering of the campers.

"The Owl of Olympus has been stolen," Skylar said, as she turned around to look at them, as soon as she did her expression changed from curious to shocked. She was gaping at them openly, and demanded, "What the hell happened to you?" to James.

"Telekhines," he replied shortly. "Not important-"

"Dude, it looks like you've been sent through a blender," Skylar cut him off. "I'd say that's pretty important."

Before James could get out an annoyed reply, an eerie green light emitted from the front of the crowd. "What's that?" Seph demanded, her hand seemed to grip his even more firmly.

"Nothing good," Will muttered.

_"The daughters of Poseidon shall go underground_

_In their search of a map to make the lost found_

_Daughter of Hermes shall navigate the way_

_To a place where the son of Jupiter has to pay the ultimate price_

_Else the sea shall pay it twice_

_The sun and the thief will go hand in hand_

_While the son of death makes a desperate stand_

_Once choice shall stop the new reign's birth_

_And stall the rise of mother earth."_

James felt a certain sickness about him as he listened. The entire pavilion was silent, and James looked down at Seph, who was looking at the people who were gaping at her. "What's happening?" she whispered, stepping sideways slightly into him.

"That was a prophecy," he explained. "I think you were just issued a quest."

"For what?" she questioned nervously.

"The owl," he replied. He squeezed her hand comfortingly and said loud enough to be heard across the crowd, "I'll go."

Skylar stepped forward, "Me too!" She casted them a wink, and said, "I think we all know who else. Zach, McKenna, and Will."

"Can someone please tell me where we're going?" Seph demanded.

"You were issued a quest," Annabeth Chase said over the murmur of the crowd. "You and the others that volunteered, if you choose to allow them to go, are going to go and find the Owl."

"How do you know it's me?" the younger one asked nervously.

"Rachel had the prophecy after we came out of the forest," James said quietly. "Coincidences don't happen to demigods."

"It said underground," Seph said, turning so that she was looking up at him, her green eyes glittering nervously, "You don't think..."

James was silent for a second, just nodding, "Yeah, I do."

"You're sure that's what you saw?" Chiron asked, trotting back and forth as his horse's tale flickered nervously.

"Completely," James replied, leaning back in his chair that was pulled up to the ping pong table in the rec room. It was around one o'clock in the morning, and he was exhausted. Capture the flag had been canceled, and James was planning on going to sleep as soon as it was over. He was never a lucky person, but this was ridiculous.

Chiron called all of the councillors and quest members to the meeting room. They had been there for the last couple of hours discussing the prophecy, the owl, and, most importantly, the hole in the ground.

"I may be Roman," James said as Chiron stopped and looked at him, "but I know what a delta looks like. Besides, we both saw it!" James gestured across the table where Seph was, sitting beside her sister. Seph had been caught up to speed on just about everything, and was taking it as well as could be expected. She was nervous, but she wasn't flipping out, exclaiming that it wasn't her quest and her responsibility.

"If you don't believe us," she snapped, an irritated glint in her eyes, "why don't we just walk over and have someone else check it out. James just told me that coincidences never happen to demigods. Why else would I have fallen in right before the prophecy was made?"

"It's a good point, Chiron," Annabeth Chase, a blonde daughter of Athena with scarily intimidating grey eyes. "Besides, the only way we'll know for sure is if they check it out. I just hope it isn't."

That was why everyone was having the argument instead of going out to check. They were afraid that it was the Labyrinth. James wished that he was wrong, because it shouldn't have been possible, because Daedalus was dead, had been since before the final battle in the war with Kronos. The Maze was intertwined with his life force, that meant that the Labyrinth couldn't have been around without its creator. Something had Daedalus captive, and whoever it was probably wasn't a friend if theirs. Everyone was most likely thinking of Gaea, which was a plausible option considering that she brought back a number of baddies before.

"Look," McKenna said, sounding calm and collected. "We'll go in it tomorrow, because that has to be part of the prophecy, and if it's a bust, you'll be the first to know."

"That's if you make it out alive," Clarisse La Rue, a tall and extremely buff girl with stringy brown hair and a permanent scowl, growled.

"Let's not scare the newbie," Skylar snapped at her. "We already have James for that."

"Hey," James scowled, "I've been training your newbie, not scaring her!"

"Will you guys stop talking like I'm not in the same room as you! As much as getting told that we have a good chance of dying freaks me out, I'm glad she told me! It'll make sure we aren't doing anything reckless while we're out there!"

"Skylar's going with us," James sneered, "you sure that isn't reckless already?"

"Oh," Skylar challenged snappishly, "and you're an angel? I swear, you're more reckless than the rest of us put together!"

James stood in his chair, Skylar mimicking him, glaring savagely, and James thought she was about to jump at him from across the table.

"Hey!" McKenna thundered, "you're both reckless idiots! Now sit down so we can go to bed soon!"

James shrugged and plopped down in his chair, pinching the bridge of his nose with his thumb and forefinger. "What do we have to discuss now?"

He looked up and saw that everyone was looking at either him, McKenna, Seph, or Skylar. He was so happy to be the source of other people's entertainment. "I believe everything has been discussed," Chiron said after a moment of silence. "You and Ms. Rocaine need to learn to control your tempers. I've kept you up long enough, go on to bed."

James got up, letting the bulk of the crowd pass before walking out. He saw Skylar and Will walking toward the Hermes cabin hand in hand, McKenna and Zach doing the same with the Poseidon cabin, and Seph aimlessly walking toward her cabin, her posture suggested that there was way too much on her mind.

**Seph:**

She was trying to keep all of the facts that were tumbling around in her mind straight. Her head pounded as she thought about the Owl, which was some secret symbol of Athena that didn't even show up in Mythology. Her children knew a little about it. It was supposed to give the power and the strategic ability to overthrow Olympus to the person that smashed it.

The only thing that they knew was that Gaea had to have had something to do with it because she was mentioned in the prophecy. Though they had double meanings and it could really mean nothing.

She was starting to realize that there were too many _what ifs_ and _maybes_. She asked if there was anyone more qualified to lead the quest, and she had been met with a snort from James, who demanded what qualifications someone had to have to risk their life on a quest.

She remained silent, unsure of how to answer. James just continued on, telling her that no one goes against the fates unless they want a full blown disaster on their hands. Seph was vaguely curious what could be more disastrous than what was going on, but she was sure that of there was a way for something to be worse, they would find it.

Not willing to risk her situation taking an even deeper turn south, she agreed to the quest, wanting nothing more than to wake up and have it all be one long dream.

**Sorry for the long delay. I'm going to try and update every Tuesday... Maybe Monday. I hope you liked it. School's almost out, and exams are coming up, so I'm super busy. Please feel pity for me and leavr a review on the way out lol. Wish me luck on my lab exam monday!**

**Thanks to writtingmagic for reviewing every chapter so far. You're awesome! :)**

_**Preview:**_

_**"Kinda," she replied. "You remind me of a guy trying to break up with their girlfriend when they're science partners."**_


	8. The Quest

_**"Seph:**_

Her dreams were filled with hellhounds, blood, and various scenarios of the quest, some gruesome, others unrealistic. All of them were terrifying. So needless to say that when she woke up, the first specks of light were shining through the windows of the cabin, and she didn't try to fall back to sleep. She slowly got up, changed clothes, and grabbed her backpack, slinging it on to her shoulder as she walked to the door. Before she left, she looked back at McKenna, who was sleeping soundly in her bed, and wondered how she could pass out with no worries.

She walked out the door, inhaling the fresh air, and took a long look around her, glancing back at the cabin that had been her home for just over a week. She was going to miss it here, and she hoped that she would live long enough to see it again. She shook her head as she began walking through the beautiful grass; how messed up was her life? She was worried about dying! She was fifteen; her biggest issue should be what she was going to tell her teacher when she didn't have that six page English report finished.

Frowning at the unfairness of it all, she began to understand why the demigods were so calm all the time, if they didn't take everything in stride, they would have gone insane a long time ago.

She didn't realize that she had company at the pavilion until she was at the first table. James was laying on the bench seat, his hands behind his head as if he was the most relaxed person in the world. His eyes were closed, and she could almost imagine him being a normal teenager in the real world. Almost. He still had numerous scars lining his exposed skin, and despite how relaxed he was, he was still tense. His shoulders gave it away.

He didn't even open his eyes as he talked, "You gonna sit down or stand around gawking at me?"

Seph jumped slightly, blushing as she adverted her eyes. She took a seat opposite to him, and asked, "Why are you up so early?"

"I could ask you the same thing," James replied, his eyes opening as he turned around and pushed himself into a sitting position in one fluid motion.

"I couldn't sleep," she muttered, figuring that he'd take her for a coward.

"I imagine you couldn't," he said, shrugging. "I don't envy you. I don't think anyone really does."

Seph released a quick breath almost laughing. "Isn't much to envy," she replied. "I probably won't make it back from this quest alive. I'm not a warrior, or a fighter. You've seen that. Why can't you lead it, or Skylar? What about McKenna, Will, Zach...anyone but me?"

James shrugged, "The Fates have a...twisted sense of humor, and they don't really go for the ideal. You're the person that they wanted, and you're the person they're gonna get. As for making it back, you're stuck with all of us, and we're not gonna just stand by and let you do this all by yourself. I may be a jerk, but I'm not that bad. Besides, just because we're not here doesn't mean you're off easy with training. You may not think you're a fighter, but you'd be surprise. All demigods are fighters in their own way. If you weren't, that hound would have eaten you and you wouldn't have grabbed that branch."

She wondered if he would say that if he could see how terrified she really was.

"We'll get through this," James assured her after he realized that she wasn't going to answer. "It's a quest, it isn't as though you're going into war." He shook his head, "That would be when you need to feel fear, a few monsters and some bad guys, it's not easy, but it's livable."

"Why did you volunteer?" Seph questioned. "Why would you when you heard the prophecy?"

"'_The son of Jupiter has to pay the ultimate price _'" James recited.

"I don't think that they want your money," Seph commented. "Why risk your life when you don't have to?"

"I'm Roman," James shrugged, "I've got a sense of duty."

When he didn't meet her eyes with his normally intense gaze, she knew that he was either lying, or he wasn't being completely truthful. "There's a difference between a sense of duty and knowing that they're probably going to kill you. I don't want you to die-"

"How sweet," James deadpanned, cutting her off as he rolled his eyes. "Don't worry about me, Current, I'm a big boy and I can take care of myself."

The tone in his voice made it evident that he wanted to drop the subject, and Seph complied with his wishes, realizing that he was probably just as scared behind his mask of calm.

"Look, Current," James said, rubbing the back of his neck, his head inclined toward the table as he looked up at her sheepishly, "I...uh, I imagine you're not exactly my biggest fan, not that I blame you or anything, but I don't want your...feelings to get in the way. We have an important job to do, and-"

Seph laughed lightly and shook her head, "You're not used to apologizing, are you?"

"That obvious?" James asked weakly.

"Kinda," she replied. "You remind me of a guy trying to break up with their girlfriend when they're science partners."

James snorted, rolling his eyes. "I don't really know what to say to that, but I'm gonna take it as a '_we're cool_.' Truce?"

She smiled nodding, "Truce; you know you're alright when your mouth isn't screwing everything up."

"Really?" James chuckled. "And here I thought you hated me because of my good looks."

"I don't _hate_ you," she replied. "You've had my back since I've gotten here, even if you've been a bit...aggravating."

"You're my first trainee," he informed her. "Normally no one has a personal trainer, but with the prophecy coming up, Chiron wanted you to be ready, he's worried that you don't have as much time as everyone else did."

Seph sighed, shaking her head, "I guess we'll find out how well you've taught me in my whole week of instruction."

"I don't hear arguing!" Skylar's voice exclaimed from a few feet behind Seph, causing her to flinch.

Seph turned around and saw that the other four were making their way toward them. "You all ready?" she questioned, an eyebrow raised.

"Of course," McKenna said, a half smile on her face as she shifted the bag on her shoulders.

"Well," James said, standing from the bench, and grabbing his black bad from the ground. "If you're all ready, I guess we can go exploring."

They walked in silence. Everyone looking nervous and even a bit excited. All Seph felt was a growing amount of dread as they all walked into the forest. It was as if something was waiting for her, not necessarily in the tunnel itself, but there was a feeling deep in her gut that told her that she was about to go through hell, and quick.

They were standing at the entrance, looking down at the darkness, tension thick in the air. "Well," Seph said, looking around at her newfound friends, "if you're gonna back out, I imagine now is the time to do it."

Everyone looked at her, steel in their gaze, and a harsh readiness that startled her slightly. They were there because they wanted to be, no other reason.

"Like I said, Current," James said calmly, placing a hand on her shoulder before he knelt down, his calloused fingers trailing their way down her arm as he went, "you're stuck with us."

"Let's get this over with then," she sighed, turning her flashlight on, and shining into the pit, able to make out the dirty ground below.

"I'll go down first," James said, "and make sure it's safe in the immediate vicinity."

Everyone nodded, and Zach said, "You sure, man, I could-"

"Nah," James replied, "I've got this."

Before anyone could say anything else, he flicked his flashlight one and jumped.

"James?" Seph asked nervously into the dark pit.

"I'm fine," his voice floated out. "It's not the same room that we found last night. Which means that our assumptions were correct."

"You sound like an archeologist," Skylar commented, snorting slightly.

"Sky," McKenna reprimanded, "this is serious!"

"Only as serious as you make it," Will muttered, "that's Skylar's motto."

"You know me so well," Skylar cooed, wrapping an arm around the blond.

"Guys," Seph snapped. "Focus!"

The three of them had the decency to look ashamed as they all went silent. "I'll go down next," Zach said, already jumping in. Will looked up at the sun almost longingly before joining them.

"I'll go," Seph sighed, giving them a small smile.

"We'll catch you," Will's voice called up.

Seph took a deep breath, as if she was about to dive into water and jumped. The fall wasn't that far, but it was far enough to be scary. Before she could scream, someone already grabbed her. Her face was buried in his chest for a moment, and she smelled whatever cologne he had on. It was nice. "You okay, Current?" James questioned as his arms squeezed her slightly.

She flinched and pushed herself away from him, flushing. "I...could have landed on my own."

"You're welcome," he said, rolling his eyes.

_**JAMES:**_

His eyes followed the trail of light that his flashlight was shining. The ground was just greyish, brownish, sandy dirt. It was a wide hallway, three or more of them could stand side by side as they were walking, but it still felt cramped because that was all there was for as far as he could see. It looked ominous, but nothing too terrible. He hated confined spaces, almost as much as he hated water...almost.

Seph was beside him, clearly trying to put as much space as possible between them, and there wasn't a lot of space to give. He was wondering what he did or said. Gods, he only caught her, Zach and Will did the same thing, he figured he was doing her a favor. She was probably just jittery and looking into everything too much. Over-thinking meaningless things instead of agonizing over what laid ahead was probably a good idea.

They began a slow walk forward, following the beam of light that came from James's flashlight. The walls were cement brick, and seemed to give off a cold chill, as if telling them to leave.

"I'm already missing the sunlight," Will muttered. James couldn't help but silently agree.

"Did you think this would be a sunny resort," Zach asked dryly, earning a snort from everyone including Will.

"Maybe," Will replied. "You're telling me that you'd be complaining if it was?"

"Didn't say that," Zach shrugged as they came up to a two way path. "But we wouldn't be lucky enough to get anything like that."

"Where to?" Skylar asked, looking at both turn offs curiously.

"Your father's the god of travelers," James informed her, "and it also said, '_the daughter of Hermes shall navigate the way_,' or something like that, I figured you'd be telling me."

Skylar rolled her eyes at him, "Left."

James looked at the left tunnel, it had green and white checkered tile floors and a mosaic of the gods on its walls. He looked at the right and saw the same identical walkway. "What's the difference?" he demanded, turning and shining his light on Skylar, who had her hands on her hips, her eyebrows raised as she looked at him with piercing blue eyes.

"You asked me, Skippy," she reminded him. "I said left 'cause I feel like going left. You got a better way to choose?"

"No," he admitted. "Anyone else got a better idea that trusting Skylar's gut, which normally leads to an almost certain death?"

"I feel so trusted," Skylar muttered.

Seph snorted as McKenna patted her on the back. "Don't sound so sarcastic. I trust you as much as I trust Travis and Connor."

"That's not very much," Zach muttered.

"Guys!" Seph snapped. "Once again, focus!"

All of them looked at the ground as if they were children being scolded by their teacher for talking in class. Gods he'd had that done to him enough when he was still in mortal school. Snapping out of his memories, he looked down the left tunnel again, billions of tiny dust particles were reflecting off the light, giving the pathway a hazy look to it. "Left it is," James sighed, taking a step forward and looking behind him at the others. "You coming?"

It went like that for a while, everyone walked in silence, Skylar only speaking up when they came to some kind of crossroad. She gave directions that seemed completely random. Sometimes saying left or right so many times in a row that they world have went at least in a square or rectangle if they would've been in a normal maze. But they kept finding different rooms, going from newer graffiti, to a cellar that house wine back from the fifteen hundreds, to ancient Greek art that everyone admired with interest and weariness. There was no specific order, and everything was jumbled up, making it seem like a strange collage of time periods.

_**Seph:**_

They had to have walked for a good four hours before they decided it was time for a rest. They were in a large, circular room with huge stone pillars jutting out every seven feet or so, and small circular holes in the ceiling, letting light shine through. She felt exhausted as she sat down, leaning against one of the pillars, wiping the perspiration off her face. She inhaled deeply and exhaled slowly, fighting off tiredness. Everyone else seemed to be the same way. They slumped against the walls and pillars nearby, not bothering to talk right away. Skylar went so far as to lay down, her head resting on Will's lap.

"Is this the plan?" McKenna asked. "Just walk around until we find something?"

"I talked to Annabeth last night," James admitted. "She agreed with me, a first, about the maze. 'Mother Earth' is obviously Gaea, who would have some form of control over the Labyrinth.

"That does make sense," Seph said, rubbing at her tired calf muscles. "I don't know why that has anything to do with this, though. If Gaea wanted us to go into the Maze, she would have just led us to the nearest trap hours ago. It's not like the Labyrinth is short on them."

"Think about it," James instructed, sounding more like he did when he was drilling her than he did when they were just having a normal conversation. "You _fell_ into the Labyrinth. There's no way you just walking over the ground would create that hole. Not only that, the prophecy didn't even hint about bringing a clear sighted mortal. Someone else is guiding us, and I don't think it's Skylar."

"What are you trying to say," Zach demanded. "That we're willingly walking into a trap. Gods, you're crazier than I ever gave you credit for!"

"Calm down," McKenna snapped at Zach. "Were you listening? If she wanted to kill us, she could have. She wants something else."

"We already know what she wants," Will said calmly, looking at Seph. "You're the child of the prophecy, she'll want to...convert you."

"She could have just come to her in a dream," Skylar reasoned.

"Look how well that's happened in the past. Dreams, for some reason, seem to backfire in the end," James replied. "She's up to something else."

"Why didn't you mention it before," Seph demanded, glaring at James. "It would have been nice."

"And freaked you out even more?" James shot back.

"I could have handled it!" she snapped.

"I figured that I was doing you a favor!" he exclaimed.

"Well you weren't," she seethed. "Telling me in the middle of the damn Maze! All it did was put me even more on edge!"

"Good!" he growled. "You need to be! Do you think it's safe down here? For all we know, armies of monsters could be following us right now, all I did was insure that you didn't back out!"

"I knew you didn't trust me!" Seph exclaimed.

"I rarely trust anybody," James said, rolling his eyes. "It's a part of my nature, so don't take it too personally."

"Guys!" Skylar snapped, jumping to her feet and standing slight in between the still seated pair, glaring angrily at them. "Stop fighting! What happened to this morning? You guys were fine with each other like an hour ago!"

"At least it proves one thing," Zach said dryly. "If we were actually being tracked by an army of monsters they would already have found us because you guys were both loud enough to wake the dead. At least we're safe there."

It was like Zach said the magic words. Everything set into action not a half a second after he got the last word out of his mouth. The large tunnel that they came into abruptly disappeared, becoming solid wall, blending in with the concrete around it. The other tunnel stayed, but another one, right beside it, opened up, the eerie glow of celestial bronze emitted from the shadows, and filled Seph with dread. There was nowhere to run, going toward the other tunnel would be suicide. The others seemed to realize that, because all they did was stand up.

Seph mimicked them, drawing her weapon. "Zach," James said, not taking his eyes off the newfound tunnel. "If we ever go to Vegas and gamble, remind me to bet against you."

**Don't hate me for the cliffhanger! I'll update soom! Promise.**

**_Preview:_**

**_"Why won't you die already?"_**


	9. Monsters and Janus

_**Skylar:**_

There were maybe ten dracane, a couple lastrygonian giants, and a hellhound staring them down from the other side of the room. She looked at Zach, feeling a small amount of wry humor, that only she could find in this situation, though none of it was remotely funny.

She looked around her nervously, the others were tensing up, ready to fight, when one of the lastrygonians spoke up. He was large, with muscles with would make any child of Ares jealous. "Surrender your weapons and come with us."

"Are you ssssure it's wisssse to take them to Fluffy. He might eat them before we can hand them over to Elizabeth," the snake woman closest to the lastrygonian hissed.

"Silence," the giant snarled. "I'm in charge right now, and what I say goes. Drop your weapons!"

"How about no?" James drawled. "If _you_ drop _your_ weapons, we'll kill you quickly."

"Demigods," the giant spat, as if it was the most insulting word they could think of. "You're always so arrogant."

"Years of practice," McKenna replied. "Are we gonna stand around and talk, or are you gonna try and make us drop our weapons?"

That was all it took. The hoard of monsters were on them, and all hell seemed to break loose. She was separated from Seph and Will almost immediately. A snake woman, wielding a sharp spear, came at her with a snarl on her green scaled face. Skylar ducked out of the way of the spear and dove forward, grabbing the monster by her armored waist and tackling her to the ground. She knocked the spear out of her hand, brought her sword down to a chink in her armor an, turned her to dust.

She got to her feet in time to see the hellhound jump at her. She rolled out of the way with a yelp, but before she could get up to protect itself, there were three arrows in the monster's flank. It exploded into dust with a yelp. Skylar didn't have time to thank Will before she was met with two more dracane. She had to dance out of the range of a trident and roll out of the way when the other one threw a net at her. She flicked her knife in retaliation, and it hit the closest on in the forehead, giving her a storage resblance to a unicorn...right before she exploded. Her friend seemed to be angry at Skylar for stabbing her. It lunged at her and Skylar side stepped the blow, but before she could do anything else, James came flying back and he and the snake lady went rolling.

She saw Seph trying her best with a lastrygonian. James taught her well. It had a few deep cuts and she was managing to duck out of its way whenever it tried to smack into her. She tore her eyes from Seph and saw that James just finished off the snake woman and was moving on to his next victim. The other giant.

She reclaimed her dagger and dashed off to help Seph since the others had their hands full. She jumped up just as it was bringing its hand down to attempt to smack her directly on the top of her head. She drove the dagger, Aoratos, into its back. It yelped and stopped its swing in midair. He spun around, trying to get Skylar off, but Seph took advantage of the momentary distraction and slashed it across the stomach. It howled in pain before shaking Skylar off and back handed Seph across the cheek hard enough to send her flying.

"Why won't you die already?" Skylar demanded with a groan as she laboriously got to her feet.

"Because, demigod," the giant said as he turned around, "you-"

It didn't see the dagger fly across the room and hit his neck. Its head went flying one way and its body went the other, both disintegrating before they hit the tiled ground. "You didn't aim for the head," James's tired voice came from behind her.

She turned around and saw him standing maybe five feet away, his hair had an almost golden tint from the monster dust and was even messier than usual. "Some smooth moves," Skylar complimented, giving him a half smirk.

"You know me," James replied, walking past her, going out of his way to kick the glittering dust of the giant as he walked over to where Seph was.

Seeing that she was in most likely good hands, she turned to look for Will, intent on thanking him for the spectacular save with the hellhound.

* * *

_**James:**_

He knelt down beside Seph, who seemed to just be getting her head back together. As soon as she opened her eyes, she tried to sit up, but James held her shoulder, grinning. "Not so fast."

"I'm fine," she insisted, rolling her eyes.

"I can tell," James informed her. "You used to taking hits, or something?"

"Just from you," Seph said, looking up at the ceiling.

"I know I never hit you that hard," James said sharply, feeling offended by the insinuation.

"I was teasing," Seph replied calmly. "I know you didn't."

Biting down his anger, he just nodded. "Not a good idea to joke about those kind of things, people might think you're serious." He got to his feet and held his hand out to her. She regarded it for a moment, and he actually thought that she was going to refuse it, but she gripped it and gave him a small smile as he pulled her up.

"I'm admittedly dizzy," she said, a small laugh coming out of her as she stumbled almost drunkenly.

"Maybe you should sit down," James suggested.

Seph just shook her head, insisting, "I'm fine, besides, we need to get a move on."

"And we need you to be in good enough shape to go. I don't want you getting hurt-"

"How sweet," Seph said, copying him from that morning. "Don't worry about me, I'm a big girl, I can take care of myself."

James ran a hand over his forehead, down the side of his face, until his thumb was touching his jaw, just under his hear, and his index finger was at his temple. "Fine," he allowed, nodding his head and admitting defeat, which was next to impossible for him to do, but he'd seem hypocritical otherwise.

Turning around, he looked at the others, who were somewhere between talking amongst themselves and watching them subtly. Great friends, at least they had the decency to pretend to not be spying. He wondered what they would actually do if he ever got a girlfriend that wasn't considered a close friend of theirs.

"So," James said cheerfully. "Who what's to see who the lead asshole that they were fighting for is?"

"You think that's smart?" Seph questioned. "They just tried to take us prisoner."

"If out assumptions are right," James explained his reasonings. "Then this is the trap that we've come across, and that's the place that Gaea wanted us to go to. If we're lucky, that map we're looking for is there too."

"He's right, you know," a males voice said from behind him. James tightened his grip on the sword that he never put away and turned around. There was a tall, middle aged man in a trenchcoat, his hair was a coppery brown, but when he looked any lower, he had to do a retake to make sure he was seeing everything correctly.

The man had two heads. His body was facing them but technically, he was looking at the walls, one of both pairs of his four eyes was at the corner, straining to see them.

"Janus," Zach said sharply, looking at the god distrustfully. James could understand why. He'd heard enough stories from the campers to know that he was never exactly clear about who's side he was on. "How can we help you, my lord?"

"It's the other way around, Zachary Bruno, son of Hades. It's how I can help you."

James had a feeling that whatever source of help that Janus could offer, he didn't want any of it. Choosing his words carefully, he walked forward, as to stand out in case he angered the god, he would be the only one to suffer the wrath. "No offence intended, Lord Janus, but gods rarely offer services out of the goodness of their hearts...they almost always have an underlying motive."

Both faces merely smiled, and he felt himself breathe out in relief. He wasn't dead...yet. "You're right, of course, son of Jupiter," Janus replied. "Think of it as my...curiosity of how this all plays out. You all have many different choices to make, and quite a few of them shall define the future. I'm simply choosing to help the process along." Janus's eyes wandered their group and landed on the person almost directly behind him. His smile became a slightly crueler one.

James spun around and saw Seph standing there, a nervous glint in her eyes. "Ah, Ms. Current, you're the quest leader...and the new child of the prophecy! This is your decision to make!"

"Seph," James said, turning around to look at her directly. "We can make this together, don't let anything he says confuse you."

She nodded in acceptance, and looked at Janus. "We need to get the quest finished."

"That much is obvious, my dear," Janus's left face said. "The question is: quickly or slowly?"

She looked at James, apparently for guidance. He just shrugged.

Seph turned back to Janus and said, "Quickly, I guess, sir."

"The quickest way to end the quest is death, of course," Janus's right head said.

"But," the left said, "we imagine you don't mean that quickly. The quickest route that you seek is in the house, you'll find the map there. Be warned it is the most dangerous."

"Lord," McKenna said, bowing slightly, "you're sure that there is no catch?"

Janus's left face looked directly at her, both sides smiled even more coldly as he regarded her. "McKenna Suave. Your choice shall be one that I will watch most closely. I need no return favors, the entertainment that I will get will be payment enough."

Everyone looked around at each other nervously before looking back at Janus. "What's the other choice?" Seph questioned, crossing her arms nervously over her chest.

"You continue through the maze, safely, without the map, and it'll be much too late when you finally find what you're looking for."

"Much too late?" Skylar demanded. "What's that supposed to mean. I didn't know this quest had a deadline."

"Doesn't everything?" Janus's right face asked, as his body shifted slightly so that it was looking directly at her. Will shifted so that he was standing in front of her, his stance protective.

"That's all I can do to help," Janus's tone was apologetic, but his expression said that was completely pleased with how confused they were. His form suddenly began shimmering, and James pulled Seph toward him, burying her face into his chest and closing his eyes just in time for him to show his true form and disappeared.

* * *

**Hey! What did you think?**

_**Preview:**_

_**Skylar let out a low whistle, "Someone either has neglected to do some serious spring cleaning, or they have the most disturbing taste for decorations I have ever seen."**_


	10. The House

_**Seph:**_

She saw a bright light through the darkness of James's shirt and immediately closed her eyes, figuring that he had pulled her against him because she wasn't supposed to look at it. He let her go a few seconds later, and she backed away from him slowly. "Next lesson," he said, rubbing the back of his neck awkwardly, "never look at a god's true form."

She had to hide a smile. Had she made him like this? Looking behind her at the others, she saw that they were smiling faintly at him as well. "So, mighty quest leader," Skylar said, walking over and clapping her on the shoulder lightly. "I imagine we all have the same decision in our minds."

"Yeah," Seph sighed. "Something tells me that not completing this quest on time could be disastrous. As much as I hate the thought of any of us going into danger, we need to go through the house."

_**~THEOWLOFOLYMPUS~**_

The tunnel was narrow, dark, and steep. They were all single file, James leading the way with her behind him, and either McKenna or Will behind her, she couldn't really remember which one. "Stop," James muttered, his hand reached out behind him and pressed against her stomach, causing heat to rush to her face for a moment.

Managing to make her voice work again, and telling her scattered brain to focus on the life-or-death circumstances that she was facing, not the cute guy in front of her, she said, "What's wrong?"

"Dead end," he replied. "But it's wooden. I think it's a door."

"The knob would be a good thing to look for," Skylar's wry voice came from just beside her left ear. She jumped slightly, and realized that she was completely wrong about who was behind her. Making a mental note to be more observant, she listened to what James was saying.

"Never would have thought of that without you, Rocaine. You sure you're not a daughter of Athena?"

She could almost hear both of their eyes rolling.

Before Skylar could lash out another retort, or any of them could intervene, they were hit with a dim light. The door creaked loudly as it opened, probably giving their location away if there was a monster in the immediate vicinity, and the light, which turned out to be from lanterns, momentarily blinded her.

"You guys wait here," James muttered. "I'll see of the coast's clear."

"No," Zach snapped, shocking Seph. "Demigods learn to listen to their guts, and I don't know what it is, but something feels off about this maze, we need to get out of here together. Now."

Everyone must have been in the business of trusting each other entirely. It unnerved her. What had they been through together to share such a bond? It made her feel like an outsider, but she felt that way already. She was no skilled demigod. What was she even doing here?

"Let's go, then," James said, taking a slow step forward, followed by another, and another. Seph mimicked him, feeling utterly ridiculous, but knowing that the quiet was probably important for staying alive. They were in a basement of some kind. Lanterns casted flickering lights from the wooden support beams. Shadows of dusty furniture, old toys, and cobwebs danced in the dim light, making the place even more eerie. She felt like she was in a haunted house for Halloween.

Skylar let out a low whistle, "Someone has either neglected to do some serious spring cleaning, or they have the most disturbing taste for decorations I have ever seen."

"Why," Seph asked weakly, "do I think that the second is more likely?"

"Because," McKenna said, wrapping an arm around her comfortingly and slightly teasingly, apparently set on getting her to be a bit more lighthearted, "you're finally getting into the demigod mindset. Trust me, pessimistic is best...that's James's motto anyways."

"Normally I'd reply," James said, sounding distracted, "but we can fight and contemplate the inner workings of my mind later. Right now we really need to focus."

She saw McKenna roll her eyes, she muttered, "He's never any fun in these situations," lowly into Seph's ear so that he didn't hear her.

Seph wanted to know how anyone could have fun in a house like this when they were sure that there were things upstairs that sent other things to kill them. It, for some odd reason, didn't exactly make her want to start jumping around and laughing. Could she be like that in a few years? Would it even take that long?

"Come on," James said, as he walked toward a large mass of shadows that Seph didn't even realize was a staircase until he got to the first step. He looked up, his blue eyes filled with seriousness that should have been completely alien on him, but suited him just fine. Seph bit her bottom lip for a moment before moving forward, her sword pointed toward the ground, but she still had a firm hold on it. She remembered James telling her to always be ready, but never look openly hostile, unless absolutely necessary.

They slowly ascended the stairway, but, before it was out of sight, she looked down, and saw that the entrance to the maze was gone, covered up by cement brick walls.

The wooden floors creaked slightly as she followed James up them. She internally winced at the high pitched noise, wondering if monsters were coming after them as they walked. If the others were concerned, they didn't show it.

The stairs lead to a wide hallway with dust covered wooden floors. There was no doors lining the path, but there was another set of stairs in one direction, and in the other was an arched threshold into what looked like an ancient sitting room, though Seph couldn't be sure because of the dim lighting. Flickering lanterns from the ceiling seemed to be an unfortunate pattern in the house, as were cobwebs and dust.

"I wonder if they've thought of livening the place up a bit," Will muttered dryly. "Sunlight would be a wonderful touch."

"Never mind Solace," McKenna told her laughingly, "he thinks having a place without natural lighting is a crime punishable by death."

"Focus," James barked at them impatiently. "Rember what happened about ten minutes ago? People in here are going to try and kill us, and most likely take her," he jabbed his thumb at Seph.

Will and McKenna looked at their feet, like properly scolded children, and James made an impatient noise in the back of his throat.

"Alright," Skylar said, "we can all agree that this place is creepy, and the sooner we get out of here the better."

"Then let's go," James said, inclining his head toward the archway. "We have a lot of ground to cover."

"We should probably split up," Skylar said firmly. "The search'll be cut in half."

Seph saw James tense as he slowly turned and looked at the daughter of Hermes. The look on his face made it clear that he was questioning her sanity. "You're familiar with just about ever scary movie out there, please tell me: when did splitting up ever result in a happy ending for everyone?"

Everyone was silent. Skylar looked as though she was actually trying to think of a movie, while the others seemed content to stand around and let them bicker. It was obvious that they were used to it. Seph felt slightly miffed that they were allowed to argue, but whenever she and James got into it, someone split it up almost immediately.

Feeling slightly aggravated by that fact, she butted it before either could say another word, "Guys, there's no point in arguing over what could happen. We're losing time by contemplating different scenarios! We need to start looking now."

James casted Seph an annoyed look, as if he wasn't used to people interrupting his scoldings. _Get used to it buddy_, Seph thought wryly. _Self-righteous prick._

"Then what did you have in mind, Mermaid?" he asked, his voice was taunting and condescending, annoying her to no end.

Biting back the snappish retort that she knew he was seeking from her, she treated his response like a real question and said, "Skylar's right, we should split up." James looked like he was going to interrupt with a unhelpful biting comment, so she plowed on, cutting him off before he could even start. "We have an upstairs and a downstairs. There's six of us, two groups of three. You'll have two people watching your back at all times. Safe enough."

"Not too bad," Will said, his voice held admiration and surprise. She turned to look at him, and saw that he was smiling slightly. Maybe for shutting James up. She could tell that it didn't happen very much, and she had a feeling that he wouldn't be mute for very much longer, no matter what she told him. "Skylar and I can search the top, you can come with us too, Seph-"

"No," James cut him off. "I want to be able to keep an eye on her."

Seph felt slightly annoyed, he didn't trust her, that she was already fully aware of, but she didn't need him watching her like a hawk. She didn't care how much better he was at fighting than her. She clenched her teeth together, and snapped, "I don't need you to keep an eye on me. I'll go with them."

"Think of it like this," Skylar said, apparently pitying him for a few seconds as she walked over and placed a hand on his bicep, "Scent of the big three kids combined is going to attract monsters. Its better if she's with us. The three of you should be enough to distract too much from coming her way, besides, Will and I aren't going to stand by and let her get eaten."

He glared at Seph for a second, then at Will, and at Skylar lastly. He nodded curtly, and said to Seph sharply. "Keep your guard up."

Without so much as another word, he walked toward the archway with Zach and McKenna trailing behind.

"Yay," Seph said sarcastically, "I have people fighting over who gets to babysit me!"

Skylar rolled her eyes, a smirk twitching at her mouth moments later. "'Least you're popular, some people fight _not_ to get newbies."

Seph just shook her head, not prepared to dignify Skylar's reply with one of her own.

"Come on!" she said cheerfully. "Let's go have some fun!"

The top floor was smaller than Seph expected. She wasn't exactly complaining, since it made their search easier, but with how grand and elaborate the stair case was, she felt almost...ripped off. Shaking the preposterous thought out of her head, she examined the two doors that were on the top floor.

The intricately made staircase opened up into almost a small loft with two doors on the back of it. There was a banister where one could see into what probably was the dining room, it was made from wood that looked as though it could crumble from old age alone. The doors looked to be in okay condition, they looked like they were once a nice shade of white, but now the paint was peeling off the rotting wood, and everything seemed to be tinged a dingy grey from age.

She and Skylar were just examining the doors, deciding which one to open first, while Will was behind them. He had his bow drawn, and an arrow notched, ready to let fly on a moment's notice. "Ready to see what's behind door number one?" Skylar asked, finally gesturing to the door nearest to Seph, breaking the bone crushing silence.

"What would you say if I said no?" Seph asked, casting her blond companion a sideways glance.

"Then you're ready," Skylar said cheerfully, turning the knob and pushing it open.

She was on defensive mode immediately, her knife up, ready to slash at any baddies that were lurking behind. She and Seph both jumped into the room, looking for enemies. Needless to say that when there turned out to be nothing other than a dusty, moldy bed, and a short dresser inside, Seph felt embarrassed.

While Will was standing guard outside of the doorway, she and Skylar made quick work of the room, taring the sheets off the bed, looking under it, looking under the mattress and box spring. They looked in all the drawers of the dresser, and pushed it to the side to look under it. Nothing.

"Well," Skylar said as she walked toward the door. "We're fifty percent finished with the top floor!"

"You're one of those, 'The glass is half full' people aren't you?" Seph questioned, trailing behind her slightly.

Skylar got to the threshold and turned around to look at Seph, a smile on her face. "It tends to make things less depressing, and much more interesting."

Before Seph could ask anything else, the door slammed shut of its own accord, and separated her from Skylar and Will completely.

***sigh* don't you love cliffies? And I know I suck lol. Don't wordy I update quickly! Doesn't the next chaptr seem interesting?**

_**Preview:**_

_**"Human bones," he said, answering their unspoken question. "Whoever this is either has quite an appetite, or has all of his trophies for intruders to admire."**_


	11. Separation Anxiety

_**Seph:**_

She tried to doorknob nervously, hoping that a breeze she hadn't felt caused the door to slam shut. No such luck, it wasn't turning in the least. Once she realized this, she slammed her fist sideways on the door, shouting, "Skylar! Will! Can you hear me?"

She got no answer, and as she thumped on the wood, she realized that it was a lot sturdier than it looked. She would never be able to kick it down. She looked around desperately for an exit. She walked toward the window, figuring that maybe she could climb out of it and down. That was, of course, counting on the fact that she got over her fear of heights in the next few seconds. Otherwise she'd just chicken out and start rocking back and forth in the corner by the bed like a normal damsel in distress out of any horror movie.

The very fact that she found the thought appealing was sickening. The last thing that she needed was James thinking that she was weak. Oh god, James was going to flip when he found out that she got herself stuck in a damn room! Why couldn't she get one of those other dangers, the ones that she could physically fight? One of her teachers, when she was in middle school, had sarcastically told her that if she picked a fight with a wall, she would lose. She didn't know why, but she blamed him for being right, now that she was trapped.

Deciding to suck it up and look out the window, because she refused to let James have the satisfaction of having a reason to watch her like a hawk, though she couldn't quite figure his motives out, she began walking away from the door. The glass was dingy, but still looked like regular glass, she observed as she was approaching it. _Maybe I could try and break it with my sword if it's locked like the door is._

She tightened her grip on _Tsunami_ and imagined the window as James's egotistical head. She would be almost disappointed if it was unlocked. Smiling slightly at her own attempt to make a joke in a bad situation, she really should question Skylar's influence, she made it across the room, but before she could look through the window and gauge their location, she saw something move out of the corner of her eye.

Wearily, she spun around, her eyes scanning the empty room for threats. All she got was a floating piece of paper. It was sinking slowly to the ground. She walked over and snatched it out of the air. It seemed to be in the same condition as the house, and most of her English homework: old, dusty, and about to fall apart. She examined it anyway, wondering what it was doing in the room that was absolutely barren only moments before.

There was nothing on it. She flipped the wrinkly paper, around and around, hoping to find something, heck she even folded it a few times, wondering if she missed something at a specific part. Resigning herself to the fact that she and Skylar weren't observant enough to notice a sheet of paper falling from the ceiling, she unfolded it and was about to drop it when she saw the elegant cursive handwriting.

'_To whom it may concern,_

_You must be searching for the owl, one of the most guarded secrets on Olympus, many perils shall await you on this mission, which will only begin if you have a child of Hermes with you, because no one else shall be able yo read this map...'_

That prophecy was starting to make more and more sense. She needed to find Skylar, so she can read it! That meant finding a way out of the room from hell. Seph felt scornful toward the person who locked her inside. Of all the ways to hurt her, they went with a confined space. No lava, hordes of dracane, or fires straight from Tartarus? She was disappointed. Shaking her head, she decided to allow herself one sarcastic thought a day. Just when she was about to go for the window again, she heard the sound of a door slamming against a wall.

* * *

_**Skylar:**_

She had to jump back as the door slammed shut to avoid achieving a broken nose. She swore as she tried to open the doorknob. It didn't even turn. "Seph! Seph!" she shouted, ramming her shoulder in the door, probably bruising it. "Seph! Damn it. Answer me!"

"Shut up," Will said sharply, causing Skylar to take a moment of pause. She turned and look at him, feeling slightly hurt, but then realized that shouting at the top of her lungs was probably the quickest way to get them killed.

"Sorry," she muttered. "What are we going to do?! James is going to kill us!"

"If the monsters don't first," Will informed her, casting a weary look down the stairs. She followed his gaze and saw only dark. She knew his eyesight was much better than hers, she hoped that all he saw was stairs.

"What are we going to do?" Skylar demanded. "We lost her, we lost the-"

"Get a hold of yourself," Will demanded, lightly gripping her upper arms as he steadied her. "You're a daughter of Hermes, I know you've been..." he trailed off, most likely from her expression.

Her eyes widened, and she felt like kicking herself. She was a daughter of Hermes! She tore from Will's grasp and reached into her back pocket. Her trusty lock picking set was always there. Grinning in triumph, and knelt down, muttering to herself about how dumb she was. Strangely enough, however, she just stuck the pick inside when the door slammed open on its own, causing her to stumble forward. She hit the ground face first.

Will was right beside her instantly, helping her to her feet. They both looked at Seph, who was by the foggy window, a paper clutched in her hand, her eyes wide from shock. Slowly, a smile spread across her face. "You guys got great timing."

Skylar concluded that Seph was officially half mad, but decided against saying anything. Better cheery than dreary.

"I was about to see if my head for heights had gotten any better," she said, relief plain in her wide green eyes as she fiddled with the wrinkly old sheet in her hands.

Before Skylar had a chance to ask what the paper in her hand was, she heard a startled shriek echo from down stairs.

"McKenna," the three of them said all at once. Skylar backed up step toward the door, and then spun around. She didn't have to look behind her to know that Will and Seph were hot on her heels.

* * *

_**James:**_

The house gave him the creeps. Not that he would openly admit it, but he knew something was off, and he knew that Zach and McKenna knew something was off. His mind raced with different possibilities as he ignored the tingling in the back of his neck; the feeling that he always got before something bad happened.

The first room they walked into was dark, but light casted faintly from the windows, which were covered with sun-dried black curtains covered with holes. The floor was dusty wooden and filled with old furniture who had seen the Revolutionary War. There was a faded rug that dominated most of the floor, and in the parts that were still wood, at the edges of the room, small piles were stacked neatly, lining the walls. They were covered with so much dust, and so many cobwebs that James wasn't exactly sure what they were.

He hated his curiosity.

He slowly walked forward, his hand loosening around the hilt of his sword as he knelt in front of one of the piles. McKenna and Zach were watching him wearily from behind, and he didn't even have to turn around to know they were. He set his sword on the floor, easily within arm's reach, and leaned forward slightly, brushing some of the dust off the top of the pile. He saw a rounded white figure, and in the shadowy part of the room he was in, he couldn't quite make it out, but he didn't have to.

Grimacing, he snatched his weapon from the floor and stood straight up in one fluid motion, his eyes scanning the room, not wanting to count the numerous piles identical to the ones he was standing in front of.

"Human bones," he said, answering their unspoken question. "Whoever this is either has quite an appetite, or has all of his trophies for intruders to admire."

"Yeah," Zach said, "well we're the intruders, and honestly, I don't think we want to be added to this collection."

James casted them the cockiest smirk he could muster, and said, "Whoever this is, they may have beat these guys, but there's one mistake he's made."

"And what's that?" McKenna questioned, raising an eyebrow.

"He got us into his house, and then let us know to keep his guard up," James smiled nastily. "Clearly they don't understand who they're messing with."

Before either of his younger companions could respond, a bloodcurdling shriek resounded off the walls and piercing his eardrums like a knife. He spun completely around, looking all over the room, trying to find the culprit before stopping and looking at McKenna questioningly. "The hell?"

"What?" McKenna demanded. "I didn't do that!"

"Yeah," Zach said, his eyes flickering around nervously. "That was you."

"You were standing right next to me!" McKenna snapped at him. "Did I even open my mouth?!"

"It wasn't you," James said, his voice deathly calm as he scanned the room, "it was your voice."

"You're kidding," McKenna groaned, "I don't know if I could even fight a cyclops."

"This thing isn't even comparable to Tyson," James said. "We need to find it and kill it. Or we're gonna all end up joining his trophy-"

He was cut off by a another shriek of fear. This time it was Skylar.

* * *

_**Will:**_

He was following Seph and Skylar down the stairs, ready to protect them from an incoming monster with an arrow. They were maybe halfway down when they heard the next shriek. All of them came to a stumbling stop, causing the steps to groan from holding their full weight. His hand shot out and grabbed Skylar's shoulder instinctively, making sure she was there.

"_That_ scream didn't sound like McKenna," Skylar said, her eyes flickering between Will and Seph.

"That's because it wasn't," Seph confirmed. "It was you."

Will had hoped that she wasn't going to say that. He was hoping that he was just mistaken and that it was just McKenna again. Not that he wanted her to be in trouble, but at least he would know that she was still okay. Now he didn't.

Skylar looked at her puzzled for a second before looking back at Will. She blinked, coming to the same conclusion as him a second later. "Son of a bitch!"

"What?" Seph asked, disturbed.

"Cyclopes can mimic voices," he explained, his eyes flickered to the bottom of the stairs. The flickering light just seemed to get more and more creepy, and now he could almost see a huge beast lurking in the shadows.

"So is McKenna okay?" she asked worriedly.

"Right now," Will said. "None of us are okay. But as for unharmed...I don't know, she could be."

"We've gotta find them!" Seph exclaimed. "Find them and get the hell out of here!"

"So more demigods can come in and fall for the same trap?" Skylar questioned. "James isn't going to leave until it's dead, neither will anyone else. Not even you, and you know it. Besides, whoever the cyclops is, they're not going to let us just walk out of the front door."

"As long as we're smart," Will said. "We can make it. No one run off, don't go near a voice unless you're sure you can see the face."

"What if the others are looking for us?" Seph asked.

"For all we know they've been attacked. The best thing we can do for them is find the monster and kill it. Besides, they'll be looking for the cyclops, I know them too well to think otherwise," Will said, trying to be realistic, knowing that she would appreciate it more than him sugarcoating their situation.

* * *

**You guys are awesome! Love you all! Tell me what you thi on your way out. At least the ending isn't so bad this time. The next chapter is where the excitement begins!**

_**Preview:**_

_**James couldn't hold himself back from saying, "Seph? Is that you?"**_


	12. Fluffy

_**James:**_

They managed to creep through an old and eerie kitchen, their boots crunching against broken glass that was already littering the floor. The counters were littered with stains, and James tried to think of it as Kool Aid, but it was hard since he knew exactly what the stains were. The dim lighting coming from yet again, another covered window, and he was silently wondering if a vampire lived here with the cyclops. Though emposua weren't really allergic to sunlight...

He blinked hard as he forced himself to focus. He refused to get distracted.

The next room was where all the problems began.

It was pitch black, not a single ounce of light coming from it. As he crept closer, trying to be silent, he reached in his back pocket for the flashlight that he had been holding, and unshouldered his pack, he had a feeling that with whatever was about to happen, he would be better off without the extra weight.

He flicked the light on, and shined it in inside. It didn't do anything to really effect the darkness. He stepped forward. "James," Zach said, sounding genuinely nervous. "I don't know if this is such a good idea."

"We have to find it," James replied, not looking away from the room. "We haven't heard a peep out of Sky, Seph, or Will. For all we know that might have actually been Skylar screaming."

"I know," Zach relented.

"That doesn't mean be reckless," James said sharply, turning back to look at them.

"Gods, James," McKenna rolled her eyes at him. "We're not newbies!"

"Compared to me," James replied. "You're all newbies. Just be careful."

He didn't get a reply out of them, but he knew he didn't need one. He crept forward, his flashlight was in front of him, for some reason not really cutting through the darkness. He strained his eyes for any sign of danger, but could make nothing out.

"Zach," James muttered. "Can you make anything out?"

"I have good night vision," Zach informed him, "this isn't just darkness. It's not natural."

"I realize that," James said, feeling aggravated.

"Help!" a voice from somewhere inside the darkness yelped.

James couldn't hold himself back from saying, "Seph? Is that you?"

"James?" she asked frantically. "James, please tell me it's really you! B-because if you're that dammed monst-"

"No, Seph," James said, trying to calm her hysteria down just a bit. "It's really me. Zach and McKenna are here too. Are Skylar and Will with you?"

"No," she whimpered. "They were chased into some side room by the cyclops. I-I'm sorry! I thought I heard McKenna beside me, and when I moved to look for her, it grabbed me!"

"Calm down," McKenna said softly. "Everything's okay. Do you know where the side room is so we can help Will and Sky?"

"I think it's on the wall to your right, closer to the kitchen," she said shakily.

After a brief struggle to remember his left and right, he turned toward his right and held his hand out, coming in contact with brick wall. He felt along it, finally hitting pay dirt after a few seconds of feeling along the wall. His fingers grazed a wooden molding.

"Gotcha," he muttered. The other two were by his side immediately. "Seph," James said, "we'll be right back for you, okay?"

"Please don't leave me," she whimpered, actually causing him to pause and tilt his head to the side slightly. "He has me chained up! He said that he's gonna come back and eat me...please, James...I-I'm scared."

"We can't leave her," McKenna said. "You know that."

"We don't have time," James snapped at her. "Skylar and Will are in trouble!"

"Go and get her," McKenna commanded to him. "Zach and I'll go and see if we can help Sky Will. You'll be right behind us."

James wanted to argue so badly, but he knew that they were pressed for time as it was. "Go, and be careful, dammit!"

They opened the door and rushed through it immediately. James turned back around and looked into the darkness, the tingling in the back of his neck getting harder and harder to ignore.

"Okay," James said. "I need you to do me a favor and keep talking, I can't see that well, and I need to be able to find you."

"O-okay," she said stutteringly. "Please hurry up."

James let out a breath, and frowned, his slow stride faltering slightly. Seph, in the time that he had been around her, had never sounded so terrified, and given everything she'd been through, it was strange that she had started then. She knew James was there, she knew that he was about to come and get her. Normally she tried to hide how frightened she was. Whatever this monster had done to her must have been terrible. The thought angered him slightly, and he couldn't figure out why. He was so busy contemplating Seph's sudden one eighty in behavior, that he completely ignored the sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach that was telling him to back up, and get himself and Zach and McKenna out the room.

He regretted not listening to his instincts as soon as he took a few steps closer. Seph's voice abruptly went from terrified and pleading to cold and cruel. "You'll do wonderful for an appetizer, son of Jupiter," he saw a hideous face suddenly appear in the line of light his flashlight was shining. It was a orangish brown, with one eye, a squished nose, and disturbing green, uneven, jagged teeth. Its mouth twisted into a wicked smile, giving him an even better, unwanted view of its disgusting teeth. Still speaking in Seph's voice, it said, "Don't worry, Seph's next."

James's upper lip curled in disdain as his shock wore off. "Why," he asked, "am I always stuck with the ugly ones!"

The monster's expression barely changed except that his smile became even more cruel. "You wish to see her face again before you die? Is that prettier sight? I can arrange that. Maybe you can watch me kill her."

"You're not touching her," James growled, cursing himself for being so stupid. The monster had obviously seen the small argument between him and Will about Seph. It was one of the smarter ones...of course.

Before he could examine how incredibly stupid his plan was, or could talk himself out of it, he jumped forward. He knew that even his incredible determination couldn't help him defeat the monster single handedly. He was most likely as good as dead, but he'd go down fighting, hopefully injuring the monster enough for the others to take down.

* * *

_**Seph:**_

They had made it into the old sitting room before they heard another shout. This one was preposterous. "Help!" James's panicky voice resonated through her head. James never sounded panicky. He was always calm, collected, and sometimes even taunting in the face of danger.

The others seemed to think the same thing, Skylar even went so far as to snort. "Whoever's doing this doesn't actually expect us to believe that, do they? Because I know James would never sound like that. Remember in the Giant War when that dracane stabbed him in the stomach and he was bleeding to death?"

"Yeah," Will replied. "What did you blackmail him with again to make him let me heal him?"

"Told him I'd confiscate his sword, and blackmail Drew into charmspeaking him to sleep for the rest of the fight," she replied with a modest shrug. Skylar turned to Seph with a smile and said, "If you haven't figured it out yet, James thinks himself invincible. He was losing blood like crazy, Will said something about some punctured vital organ or another, and James insisted that he was fine, and was ready to fight."

Seph frowned, "For someone so bright, he's awfully stupid."

Skylar nodded in agreement. She frowned as she looked at the edges of the room. Seph followed her gaze and saw piles lining the walls.

"What's this?" Seph whispered. She walked to a pile that had already been disturbed. She saw a milky white rounded object, and she only needed to get a bit closer to know what she was looking at. She felt nauseated. It was the top part of a human skull. Her eyes flickered around the room taking in dozens of piles.

"Oh my god," she muttered, her hand covering her mouth as she took in the atrocities in the room.

"Let's get out of here," Will hissed, he jerked his head toward the next room. The old fashioned, wood burning, stove that was in her line of sight indicated that it was a kitchen.

Seph was only too happy to listen to him. They all but ran out of the room. She slid on broken glass and fell forward, catching herself. She inhaled deeply at the sharp pain as she felt the tiny, sharp pieces of glass embed themselves in her palm, and digging into her knees sharply. 'Real smooth, Current,' she thought to herself wryly.

She pushed herself to her feet, ignoring the vicious stinging in her legs and hands. "You alright?" Skylar asked her quietly.

"Fine," Seph replied shortly, too distracted by the stacks of bones on the floor to care about her injuries.

Her eyes were scanning the blood stained counter when she heard a crash, and the sound of glass shattering. And it was close, wherever it was.

Seph jumped and turned toward the source of the noise, "What the hell?"

"That," Will said calmly as he walked toward the dark room on the end of the kitchen, "like someone roughly James's size and weight being thrown into a window."

"How do you know what that sounds like?" Seph demanded.

Will gave her a wry smile and said, "I don't, but it's never not James." And then he was gone, running into the darkness. She and Skylar only looked at each other for a moment before they both darted forward after them.

She was assaulted with darkness at first, but then it evaporated. Light was shining from a cracked window. The room was small, littered with bones, and cloth that Seph imagined came from the clothing of the people that were eaten. She saw James on the ground by the broken glass of the window, blood trickling from multiple cuts on his arms and face.

She ran toward him immediately, but before she made it two steps, she felt a hand connect with her sternum. She felt the breath go out of her before she went flying backward, slamming painfully against the wall on the other side of the dingy room, before hitting the ground on quite a few of the bones.

"All of my food comes to me now?" a feral voice rumbled. She fought back a groan as she lifted her head up. A huge, humanoid blob stood halfway between her, James, and Will and Skylar. They were both flickering their eyes between her and the son of Jupiter.

"Where's Zach and McKenna?" Seph demanded. She stumbled to her feet, trying to ignore the sharp pain that almost brought an involuntary tear to her eye.

The cyclops smiled cruelly at her. "I haven't hurt them...yet. It's him you should be worried about. But don't worry, I promised him I'd keep him around long enough to watch me kill you. He managed to anger me, so I'll be sure to make your death as slow and torturous as possible."

For some strange reason, that didn't sound appealing. She tried to take shallow breaths, as the pain of what she was sure was broken ribs. "Look, buddy, I don't know what you want-"

"I want to eat, of course," the cyclops said as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. "You're my first food in almost a century."

Of course they were!

Skylar and Will had been creeping toward James, thankfully taking the hint that Seph had been trying to give. But then James groaned.

"Ah," the disfigured monster said, rubbing his garbage can lid sized hands together. "The sky spawn is awake! We might as well begin your death!"

"Hey!" Skylar snapped, bringing attention away from Seph and on to herself. "You're not killing anyone else!"

"Oh, thief," the cyclops rumbled, sounding amused, "is that right?"

Will had a notched arrow pointed at the cyclops's face. "That's right," he growled, "where are our friends?"

"What good do you think one little arrow is going to do?" the monster laughed.

James seemed to be stirring a bit more restlessly, and the monster could hear it. He smiled, showing off a mouth full of teeth that suggested that he had never heard the word toothpaste. And just like that, he moved faster than Seph gave him credit for. He smacked Will's weapon away, and landed a solid looking punch in his gut. The son of Apollo went flying back into a startled looking Skylar.

He turned away from them and back to Seph, who, like an idiot, remained rooted to the spot. He stalked toward her, the twisted smile on his face becoming more and more sickening.

"Come on, Seph," he said in a perfect imitation of James' voice. "It'll all be over soon."

She might have been comforted if James himself actually said that, but this monster was definitely not James. She ducked out of the way of its outstretched hand, and rushed past him, unsure of what she was looking for. She saw James trying to sit up. When he looked at her with a dazed and vulnerable expression, their dire situation finally hit home. If she didn't think of something, they were all going to die.

That was when she realized that she wasn't holding her sword anymore. She could see the glowing bronze blade, on the other side of the room...behind the cyclops that had just spun around and was about to go running after her again.

Will and Skylar were both out like lights, and James, who was slowly coming back around, was in no condition to fight, and she had no idea where McKenna and Zach were. She waited until the monster ran toward her. She then dashed to the other side of the room, narrowly dodging the arm that came out to catch her. As she stumbled to a stop in front of her sword, she grabbed it and spun around.

The cyclops was right behind her. Shrieking in fright, she slashing it forward, taking them both by surprise. The cyclops moved a second too slow and golden ichor welled from his arm. It howled in pain and swung at her in a mindless rage. She managed to avoid being beaten to death, but the wall behind her didn't get the same luxury. He actually managed to crack quite a few bricks with one solid punch. The thought of that actually hitting its intended destination, her head, made her flinch.

"The door," James's voice came to her in a groan.

Seph faltered for a second. He thought that she was going to bail on them just because he told her to? If and when they got to safety, the two of them were going to have some words.

"I'm not leaving you," Seph snapped at him. As she kept dancing out of the cyclops' angry reach. "Now shut-" she dropped to one knees to avoid a powerful looking uppercut, only to have to roll out of the way of a harsh looking kick. She got to her feet maybe ten feet away from the monster, and even further from the nearest exit that James would have in mind. "-up"

"Zach and McKenna," James said. "The door!"

Seph felt terrified, as the cyclops ran after her, she didn't have time to decipher what James was talking about. The poor guy had clearly hit his head way too hard. She moved from the back wall of the room, just in time for the cyclops to run head first into it. She was about to give herself a congratulatory pat on the back, but the monster didn't even seem fazed by the blow. He spun around almost immediately, his arms wide like a couple of helicopter blades, and backhanded her with his gained momentum. She rolled to a stop beside James, feeling a sharp pain in her side where the back of the cyclops' hand hit. She hissed in pain, but tried to back away from James, needing to get any and all attention away from him.

He seemed to be somewhere between conscious and in lala land. "McKenna and Zach, get them, open the damn door."

He was lucid, that last part of his sentence proved that. He looked at her, his eyes glazed over, she didn't know if it was from pain or a concussion, "Hurry up, before he kills us all."

Seph nodded, scrambling backward. The adrenaline rush she was experiencing made her forget about the pain that would have probably made her want to cry out. She got to her feet and stumbled toward the door, her head pounding.

She made it to the door, but felt a rough, sandpapery hand on her shoulder. Before she could do anything else, it squeezed. Hard. She felt her bone crush under his hand and she shrieked in pain, crumpling to the ground immediately.

"Now, demigod," the cyclops growled. "You will die a slow death!"

He reached down and grabbed her by the throat, causing her shattered shoulder to move. She couldn't hold in the shout of agony. If she had eaten anything that morning, she was sure it would have been gone. The pain was gut wrenching. She was slowly pulled to her feet, but she was sure that if the cyclops hadn't been supporting her by grabbing her neck, she would have fallen straight back to the ground. The only problem: she couldn't breathe. She grabbed at his wrist with her right hand, considering the fact that her left was utterly useless.

He laughed at her pathetic attempt to protect herself. She knew that she was going to die because she didn't fight hard enough. And now James, Skylar, Will, and possibly Zach and McKenna were going to follow her because she was weak.

"Hey, jackass!" Skylar's voice came out as a terrifying growl. "I told you that you weren't killing anyone else!"

Seph's vision was going blurry and she wanted nothing more than to go to sleep. She knew that it was because she couldn't breathe, but that didn't really seem important. Sleep seemed like a much more pressing matter. She almost succumbed to the alluring pull of oblivion, but just before she could, an unbelievable level of stabbing pain shot through her shoulder. She let out an involuntary scream of pain from it.

She was able to breathe again, thank god, and now that the oxygen was getting back to her pain dazed brain, she was able to register the fact that the cyclops had dropped her on her hurt shoulder.

She faintly heard James shouting her name, and the shouts of Skylar, and now Will as they took on Fluffy. She rolled on to her right side and took in a deep breath as she slowly moved herself closer to the door. She knew that standing was out of the question for her. So she settled for leaning against the wall sitting up. She reached over and grabbed the knob. She turned it, and the door slammed open, knocking her off balance and sent her tumbling to the ground all over again. She wasn't sure what happened next because her eyes rolled to the back of her head, and she only saw black.

* * *

_**McKenna:**_

As soon as she saw the knob turn, she didn't hesitate in ramming the door with all her might. She and Zach had been stuck in some sort of closet. They could hear everything from the outside, but no one could hear them. She didn't expect to see her sister fall to the ground right beside the door, completely unconscious. Skylar, and Will were there, looking slightly worse for wear as they played a dangerous game of tag with a very ugly cyclops.

James was on his feet, limping toward them, dragging what was quite possibly a broken ankle with him. McKenna had to admire his tolerance for pain, but if he was any dumber...

She ran toward him while Zach went to Will and Skylar, ready to aid in the fight.

"The hell are you doing?" she hissed at him angrily. "You're in no condition-"

"I'm not attacking the monster," James snapped at her. "I'm aware I'd only get in the way and get someone killed. I'm going to help Seph. The others could probably use your help."

She nodded mutely and turned around in time to see the cyclops roar loudly as Will shot him in the stomach and arms with numerous arrows. McKenna took that as her time to help attack.

She came up behind him and slashed across his back as deeply as she could. Sadly the monster had one tough hide. It roared in pain and spun around, trying to get a good shot at her. McKenna yelped and jumped backward, missing the tips of his huge fingers by millimeters.

After that it was all a blur. She stumbled backward, staying out of range as Will emptied more arrows into its already wounded back. Skylar and Zach were jumping at it from both sides, taking full advantage of his single minded determination to get to her. Zach managed to impale it in the side with his black sword. It roared in agony and went down to one knee.

"You dare attack Fluffy in his own lair!" he roared.

That gave McKenna pause, and Skylar actually laughed. "What kind of name is that?"

At that question, the wounded cyclops straightened with pride and said, "A scary one!"

"Dude," Zach informed him. "A two pound Chihuahua is scarier than that name."

Fluffy's face contorted in anger, but Skylar moved forward before anything else could happen. The outraged look was the last expression Fluffy would be wearing for a while, because she moved her hand, which she knew clutched her invincible blade and brought it down across his neck. He was a disintegrating pile of dust by the time he hit the floor.

McKenna laughed a bit hysterically as she backed away from the scene, feeling exhausted. "Alright," McKenna said, shakily. "Let's get Seph and James fixed and get the hell out of here."

* * *

**I hope it was long and interesting! No real bad cliffies! Tell me what you thought! :)**

_**Preview:**_

_**"Why did you scream?" he asked, finally. "It scared the hell out of me, please just tell me what he did to you to make you sound like that."**_


	13. The Motel

**James:**

Gods, every step he took toward Seph was agony, but he knew he had to get to her. She saved his life. She had almost been a repeat of what happened when he was nine. He didn't know if he could stand that. Her left arm was obviously mangled beyond repair without Will and godly food. She was bleeding from cuts on her face, arms, neck, and he saw a few blood marks seeping through her shirt.

The steady rise and fall of her chest sent relief through him to such a degree that it was actually scary to think about. He didn't know what had been going through her head as she talked to that cyclops after she found out that it wanted to kill her. He didn't know why she had been so hellbent on saving them when she barely knew anything about the demigod world. All he knew was that he was grateful, and that he owed her his life.

He brushed some of the black hairs off her face. He heard the sound of the cyclops crying out in pain, but he barely registered it, too immersed in the girl in front of him. He swore to himself that when she got back to camp that he was going to train her everyday until she couldn't learn anything else from him. He owed it to her to make sure she was safe.

He smelled the sulfuric scent of monster dust, and heard the padding footsteps of the others rushing toward them. No one tried to make him move away from her to his relief. No one said much of anything to him, thank gods. He didn't feel like talking. He was too wrapped up in memories of his past that the daughter of Poseidon just forced out. After what felt like only minutes, Skylar was kneeling in front of him. Her hand was clasped gently around his shoulder as she looked him in the eyes.

"Listen to me, James," she said slowly and calmly. "You're hurt. We need to look at your wounds and fix them before we leave."

He looked back at her and nodded numbly, shifting so that he was sitting next to Seph. He felt like a three year old at a doctor's office, but couldn't being himself to care. Will came up to him, a reassuring smile on his face, but James barely registered it.

His head was beginning to hurt, and bad. He heard Seph stir beside him, but he didn't look at her. He looked straight forward. His head was pounding even more harshly than before, and he was starting to feel dizzier. Each time he would blink, his eyes would stay shut longer, and they were harder to force open. Then, he couldn't fight it anymore. He felt his body sway slightly, and then all he knew was darkness.

* * *

When he came around, he was on a much more comfortable surface: a bed. He frowned at the alien feeling, not trusting the fact that he was so comfortable. Had he died and went to the Elysium?

No, he would have been judged first.

Since he deduced that he injuries sustained from Fluffy were non fatal, he figured that he should probably open his eyes and figure out what was going on. He felt a depression next to him on the bed, and a soft hand on his forehead, brushing against what he figured were a few strands of his stubbornly messy hair.

Then her voice, "Guys, I think he's waking up!"

He opened his eyes with only slight difficulty. He had to blink hard a couple of times to get them to focus, but once he did, he saw a pair of green eyes and a small smile. He closed his eyes again and leaned his head to the side, trying to collect his thoughts.

He looked back up at her and said, "You saved me," his voice scratchy from disuse

Seph flushed, and her eyes shot down to the small space between where she was sitting and where he was laying. "And you walked to me on a broken ankle."

He winced as he remembered the pain. He also remembered Seph's shrieks of agony, he didn't know which one was worse. "What did he do to you?" James asked, trying to keep the anger out of his voice. He didn't even know who he was angry with, himself for not killing the monster before it could get to her, the cyclops, Fluffy, for hurting her, or Seph herself for letting herself get hurt.

"He only threw me around a couple of times," she promised him, her hand brushing across his forehead again.

Closing his eyes at the feeling, he reached up and grabbed it before she could snatch it back and brought it with him down to his side, not letting it go. "You're a very bad liar."

He opened his eyes at looked at her with a raised eyebrow.

She flushed slightly.

"Why did you scream?" he asked, finally. "It scared the hell out of me, please just tell me what he did to you to make you sound like that."

"I...I was trying to get to the door when he caught me. He crushed my shoulder," she said. "And when he tossed me around, I landed on it. I'm so sorry for scaring you."

James shook his head, "Don't apologize, I'd have yelled too."

"McKenna told me why you guys were separated," she said, a small smile coming to her face. "She told me that you were worried about me. I'm sorry that the cyclops...that you..." she sighed as her eyes slowly traveled up to where they were meeting his. "I'm sorry that I...that I'm not strong enough for you to think I can take care of myself."

He blinked slowly and cocked his head to the side slightly as he considered her and her words. He squeezed her hand softly and rubbed his thumb against the back of it in hopefully a soothing manner. "You aren't trained yet, but I'd have come to help you even if you had years of experience on your hands."

Before she could reply, Will walked in from another room. His blonde hair looked newly washed and he had clean camp tee shirt on, along with a pair of plaid black and grey pajama pants. He looked ten times better than he had the last time James was awake.

He walked around so that he was on the opposite side of the bed from Seph. He knelt down beside him and examined a place on the top of his head. Once his fingers grazed lightly over it, James winced.

"You've got a nasty bump there," Seph murmured from beside him, her eyes on the place that Will was examining. "That cyclops hit hard."

"It busted a few of my ribs too," Will said. "Skylar, Zach, and McKenna were the only ones without real bad injuries."

"Where are they?" James asked.

"In the other bedroom," Will said. "They're looking at the map that Seph managed to snag."

James looked at Seph, who still had her eyes on the tender spot of his head despite the fact that Will had moved on to his ribs. "You got the map?" James asked incredulously.

"I got lucky," she said quietly. "Trust me, nothing special."

"Not freaking out and jumping out that window was pretty good," Will laughed as he stood up, giving James's shoulder a pat. "You'll be back to normal by tomorrow."

"Can you define his kind of normal?" Seph asked, her tone teasing.

"No one can," Will replied.

James rolled his eyes just as the other three came walking into the room. "Nevada," Skylar said. "That's our new destination."

James blinked. "What?"

"Yep, just outside of Vegas," she said. "We'll start heading for there tomorrow. We've got quite a drive."

"How far?" James demanded. "Where are we, exactly?"

It was the first time he really took time to see where he was. He was in a medium sized room with a low, popcorn ceiling, and bumpy walls that were painted a faded teal. There was a desk shoved against the wall, right beside the door way across the room. The bed he was on was a few feet from a window that had an air conditioning unit in it, which was blowing out icy air, which was cooling down his feverish skin. The fact that the bed was stiff and scratchy didn't even faze him. It was more comfortable than the bone covered ground that Fluffy had repeatedly thrown him into.

As he was taking in his surroundings, Skylar spoke up, "Your in a grande suit Neptune Beach, Florida."

"Florida," James asked weakly. "And we need to get to Vegas? If it's that far, why don't we leave now?"

"Becase you need rest," McKenna said, walking around Skylar so he could get the full effect of her threatening frown and hands on her hips.

James rolled his eyes at her, and said, "I can rest while we're-"

"In a bed," Seph cut him off. She looked less aggravated than McKenna, but sounded no less firm. "You need bed rest. We'll all feel better in the morning. Half of us were almost killed, and the other half fought to keep us alive."

"What about you?" James demanded, looking at her, his eyes narrowed in suspicion. "I saw half of what happened to you. Why aren't you being forced into a bed?"

Seph favored him with a humorless smile. "I, unlike you, did not sustain one hell of a concussion, multiple broken bones, and enough blood loss that probably would have ended up killing you if Will wouldn't have been there."

"You were still hurt," James said stubbornly. "You need to rest."

"We all need to rest," Skylar said, her tone made it obvious that she was refraining from saying something insulting or annoying to him, "because we're going to be visiting Janus again. The paper said it was his place," then it turned normal again as soon as the bad news was out in the open, "We probably should have just left the two of you alone, Will didn't really need to check him for wounds. They were probably enjoying their alone time. Give them a chance to catch up on all their flirting that they didn't..."

He saw her eyes lower slightly until she saw their intertwined hands. That was when she trailed off, immediately looking elsewhere. He flicked his eyes to Seph, who was blushing furiously as she adverted her eyes to the window. He squeezed her hand slightly and she seemed to get even redder, but he saw a small smile come to her lips. It was official, he should have started holding her hand from the beginning. It actually shut Skylar up!

"So," James said, realizing that everyone else seemed to find the silence awkward, "how long was I out?"

"About three hours," Will answered. "We dragged you out of that house and to the nearest hotel." Will shrugged. "Skylar went out a little while ago and bought some food if you're-"

"Nah," James said. "I'm fine."

"In that case," Will looked at everyone else. "It's probably time to get some sleep." he looked at James. "We're gone a bunk in here with you. There's a pull out bed on the wall. We've gotta go and grab some pillows, though."

James just nodded and watched as everyone else left. Seph stood to go, and attempted to walk off, but James still had her hand. It was the first time he noticed how small hers were compared to his. The thought made him smile slightly. She sat back down and looked at him questioningly.

"Thank you," James said quietly, looking straight into her eyes. "You're brave, insane, and if you hadn't stepped in, I'd probably be dead. I realized that I hadn't actually said it yet..."

He trailed off, his eyes lowering to their intertwined fingers. Seph had his hand wrapped in both of hers, sitting on her lap as she held it. He looked back up at her face, and saw that she was giving him a sweet smile. It made his heart stutter slightly before picking up its pace, beating too fast to be considered normal. A smile had never been able to do that before to him, and he didn't know if he trusted it.

She leaned down and pressed her lips almost tenderly against his cheek. Gods, his heart was beating even faster now. She whispered, "You're welcome. Thank you."

She stood up and placed his hand on the sheets beside him. She casted him a small, almost shy, smile and walked out of the room, leaving him there alone for the moment, and absolutely speechless. Yet another first.

* * *

**I hope you enjoyed the Seph and James moments!**

_**Preview:**_

_**"We're leaving now," James snarled at the guy. His blue eyes looked like they were glowing from electricity, and he didn't look ashamed in the least about how rude he sounded. "Flirt with the next customer that comes in. We don't have time for it."**_


	14. A Strange Checking Out Experience

_**Seph:**_

It was time to check out of the hotel. Everyone had gotten up early and taken complete advantage of the hot water since no one knew when they were going to get anymore. She had to admit, feeling clean was refreshing after the hellish events of the previous night. Hellish and confusing, thanks to one certain son of Jupiter.

James looked completely better. If she hadn't seen that he had been in terrible shape the night before, she was pretty sure she wouldn't have known by how he looked then. His hair was still damp as he lead the way downstairs. All of the bruises that he had received were almost completely gone, his cuts were healed, and he had received only one scar from the entire ordeal. A small one above his left eyebrow. Seph thought that it looked like the shape of a fingernail. She would probably never get over how amazing godly food was.

When he had come out of the shower, hair dripping wet, towel around his neck, and only in a pair of jeans, he smirked at her as he casted a wink in her direction. The thought caused her heart to speed up, and the disappoinent that she had felt when he finally slid a black shirt on allowed her pulse to return to normal. It was quite obvious that she needed an intervention from James. She was looking forward to a ridiculously long car ride with him, and she needed to remind herself that she didn't have time to look at him. She had to stay focused.

The only wry thought that went through her mind as she walked into the office of the hotel was that she had at least kept her imagination at pg-13 level. That was a start...right?

The hotel clerk was same one as the night before, which was really nice...to Seph at least. Spikey black hair, deep brown eyes, olive toned skin, and a blinding white smile, which he favored Seph with warmly as she walked into the room with the rest of them. "I see you have more of them with you today, Mr. Solace."

Will nodded, and his eyes flickered between Seph, him, and James. He smiled, a slightly wicked twinge to it before nodding, "We just like being around each other. You know, protecting what's ours."

She could hear the double meaning in his words loud and clear, though she had no idea what he meant it for. Apparently the clerk didn't know either, or didn't even hear the slight edge.

"You keep some charming company with you," he observed, winking at Seph, who blushed furiously, and returned the crooked smile that he sent in her direction with a shy one.

She adverted her eyes away from the man and her gaze landed on James. For some strange reason, he looked as though he wanted to smash the guy's face into the counter in front of him. Before she could decipher what was going on, however, the guy grabbed her attention yet again

"You must be a tourist. I don't think I've ever seen you around here before," he said, talking directly to Seph. "And I'm sure I'd never forget a face like yours."

The guy was laying it on just a bit thick, but the look on James' face was interesting enough to play along. Besides, it would be rude to just ignore him...that was Seph, always worried about manners. "I'm from New York," she admitted, casting him an unsure half smile and looking down slightly.

"How long are you gonna be down here for, because I know a few spots-"

"We're leaving _now_," James snarled at the guy. His blue eyes looked like they were glowing from electricity, and he didn't look ashamed in the least about how rude he sounded. "Flirt with the next customer that comes in. We don't have time for it."

"She seems to have plenty of time for it," the guy replied easily, looking at James in obvious distaste. "If you're the only company she's keeping, I imagine I know why she does."

James's upper lip curled in disdain at the guy, and said, "You're just a pathetic pretty boy, she's too smart to fall for anything you tell her."

"And I bet your sarcastic comments are just reeling her in, aren't they?" the guy demanded.

Seph figured she had maybe a second before James jumped the counter and knocked the guy out, because the look on his face told her that he had clearly had enough. Placing a placating hand on his shoulder, she felt the muscles underneath, tensing up from his rage. "Come on," she urged quietly, her voice was hopefully soothing. When he didn't answer, she leaned against his side slightly so she could talk in his ear loudly enough for the clerk to hear, "We've got stuff to do today, and we can't do them if you're in jail...baby." the comment felt like acid on her tongue, but she figured James would appreciate making the clerk pissed off.

James looked at her for a moment, an eyebrow raised fractionally in what was probably amusement, before shaking his head. "Fine, then, let's go." He grabbed her hand, which seemed to be a habit of his lately, and lead the way out.

As they all walked out of the office, James was still scowling, and Seph had yet to move away from him. "He seemed friendly," Skylar observed, dutifully ignoring the way Seph and James were situated with each other. "Why didn't you stay long enough to exchange numbers?"

"Because apparently James is her bodyguard," McKenna snickered, unabashedly eying the way they looked. Sisters apparently had rights that friends did not.

"Aww, its so sweet!" Skylar crowed, throwing her hands out beside her and closing her eyes as she spoke, before both erupted into fits of giggles. There they stood on the edge of the parking lot with two hysterically laughing friends, and two guy friends who looked like they were fighting from laughing.

"Seriously, dude," Zach commented. "You might as well have kissed her!"

"Hey," Seph protested, looking at him with a scowl. "I'm right here!"

"And you're okay with this?" Will asked, flashing a smile that outshined even the guy from the hotel. He was seriously about to lose his fight and start laughing.

"Could have a worse bodyguard," Seph replied, leaning her head against James' arm in a rare show of affection, as she smiled weakly at the son of Apollo, ignoring Skylar and McKenna completely. "How can I resist the sarcastic remarks and-"

She was cut off as James abruptly grabbed her by the upper arm, shifted her quickly, so that she was in front of him, and leaned down, pressing his lips against hers softly. She was frozen for a second, as James slid arm arm around her waist, trying to figure out what was happening. Her body responded after a few moments, and her brain lost all trails of thought as she began moving her lips against his. He deepened the kiss as soon as she responded. Her eyes fluttered shut, and she sighed in contentment as her arms slowly made their way up his chest, to his shoulders, and finally wrapped around his neck. It was just in time too. She was clinging on for dear life because she was having trouble staying on her feet. Her head was spinning with so many different feelings and emotions. He pulled away from her after a long moment and only then did she hear the sound of wolf whistles and clapping over her embarrassingly loud heartbeat. James only ignored it as he dragged his head to the side and whispered in her ear, "I hear I'm a damn good kisser. Can you resist that?"

That brought Seph out of her stupor quickly. Her frame stiffened, and she removed her arms from around him. She regarded him disgustedly as her hand came flying across his cheek, and she spat, "Asshole! Don't ever touch me again!"

She didn't wait for an answer, she turned and headed down the almost empty sidewalk stiffly, remembering the gas station that they were supposed to go to. The others could all stand around with James like idiots. She was much too hurt to care.

James was howling with laughter as he ran up to her. When he was beside her, he wrapped an arm around her shoulders and pulled her to a stop. "You'll be begging me for one eventually," he shrugged. "And if you're lucky, I'll consider giving it to you. But don't worry I don't plan on letting things get awkward between us because of your inability to confess that you're actually madly in love with me."

Seph turned slightly so that she could look at him and she felt the anger that she had just been feeling wash away, and the same annoyance that she normally felt for James was showing up in its absence. "Do you have to work on being this arrogant," she questioned, "or do you come by it naturally?"

"You call it arrogant," James said a sly smile on his face, "I call it lack of modesty, and modesty is a dumb quality to have."

"Would you say the same about shame and humility?" Seph questioned dryly.

"Believe it or not," James replied. "I happen to have both of those."

She looked at him, trying to ignore his arm around her while she tried looking stern. "Look, I don't know if you go up and kiss every girl you meet, or if I'm just a special subject to your torment..." Seph looked at him wearily.

"You're the first girl I've ever done that to, shockingly" he replied dryly. "It's just sometimes, you're so...so. Gods, it's like someone sent you just to annoy the hell out of me, and then other times, it's like you were sent to save me."

Seph narrowed her eyes slightly at him, and he just smirked easily in response.

"What was that supposed to mean?" she asked slowly, trying and failing to keep her face neutral.

"You saved my life," he said, squeezing her shoulder slightly before dropping his arm and facing her directly, "but I'm sure there's a good chance you only saved me to kill me yourself."

"And if I did?" Seph challenged, cocking her head to the side.

James smiled humorously, and bent down so that they were eye to eye. She felt his breath brush across her face and was distracted, blinking rapidly to make sure she was paying attention. "I'm curious about your next course of action then," he whispered to her. "Challenge accepted."

He backed up, winked at her, and walked over to where the others were waiting, seemingly out of earshot, but she always wondered when it came to them.

* * *

They all went their separate ways, as they had planned earlier that morning before they left. James and Skylar would be in charge of acquiring a vehicle, and the rest of the not-thieves were heading to the gas station closest to the hotel.

Everyone seemed to be completely calm about grand theft auto, so she figured that they had experience in it. It appalled her how two weeks ago she would have flipped out over it, but now, after what utter bull she had put up with, it barely fazed her.

As they walked on the hot sidewalk, McKenna came up to walk beside her, while the other two sped up, well out of hearing range, clearly not wanting to even be near the conversation. "Look," she said her voice was laced with something that she couldn't quite figure out...guilt? "What James did-"

"Not your fault," she said firmly. "He shouldn't have done it. It was his decision, and completely his fault."

"If we hadn't teased him-"

"You all argue and banter back and forth constantly," she reasoned, "One teasing remark shouldn't have fazed him."

"Are you...did you...do you...?" McKenna trailed off sighing as she rubbed the back of her neck. Seph knew she wanted to ask something, she didn't look too comfortable with the inquiry, and Seph had a feeling she knew what she wanted to ask. She was glad that McKenna was stuttering, otherwise she didn't know what she would say.

As it went, she wasn't sure what to say anyways. Thank the gods she was saved from having to respond. A distraction came along in the form of a gas station. McKenna gave her one last look, Seph had a feeling that it meant that they would talk about it later, before saying, "Be sure to get as much junk food as you can. It's a delicacy now that you're at Camp."

Seph nodded and they all stepped into the air conditioned establishment.

**If anyone can guess what McKenna was going to say, I'll give them a shoutout. All of you really do make my day. :)**

_**Preview:**_

_**He looked terrible. His normally blue eyes seemed deadened, and it worried her. She could faintly remember him tossing and turning throughout most of the night, apparently stopping when he'd pulled her into an embrace. Maybe she hadn't been the one to blame for her situation twenty minutes before.**_


	15. Dreams and Inquiries

_**Seph:**_

Will and Zach politely carried the bags as they all walked outside. Skylar seemed to have a sixth sense about timing, because not two seconds after the walked back out into the sweltering heat, she was pulling into the parking lot. Her face was lit up with a smile as she parked in the space that they stood in front of. She was sitting inside of a white mini van, the front two windows down and music blaring out of the radio.

"You'll have to forgive Skylar," Zach said as he walked forward and opened the sliding door. "She has a thing for entrances."

McKenna followed him to the very back as Will got into the passenger's seat. Seph inwardly shrugged and hopped inside, sliding the door shut before she sat down on the leather material of the middle bench seat. "I think we're missing someone."

Skylar looked directly at her through the rearview mirror, a smirk working itself on to her lips. "You would notice that, wouldn't you?"

"You trying to say I wouldn't notice when you're gone?" Seph quipped, causing everyone else to snort.

"I'm just saying that PDAs tell us what's been going on while he's been training you," she shrugged. "And based off what I saw, _you_ would be the first to notice _him_ gone."

Seph felt the burning look of outrage coursing through her and Skylar snorted after a moment. "Just joking, Seph, calm down. I believe that you probably got knocked on your ass in that clearing. James doesn't mess around with training."

She complied and Skylar put the car in drive. As she began moving, she spoke. "James was at the dealership that last time I saw him. He had to distract the salesmen while I stole a car. He's very good at making an ass of himself-"

"Never noticed," Seph remarked dryly.

Skylar snickered slightly before continuing, "Hermes was probably looking over us, however," she said casting Seph a wink through the mirror. "He's most likely just leaving there now."

Seph was about to ask how when Skylar began slowing down. She pulled over to the side of the road, earning the annoyed honking of various horns. The creative swearing that the drivers came up with as they passed her was quite amusing.

James was walking toward them, a smirk planted on his face as he pulled the door open and jumped inside. Seph scooted over and he plopped on the seat next to her, slamming the door closed loudly before relaxing completely, leaning his head back and letting out a long sigh, "Felt like that sun was trying to bake me."

Skylar started driving again, a cheery smile on her face. She rolled up the windows and turned the air on full blast. "Better, Tempest?"

"Much," he replied, not even opening his eyes.

"Alright," McKenna said cheerfully as she leaned forward, "now that his royal highness is taken care of, we can get get on with the mission."

Seph turned in time to see McKenna smirk and James open his eyes and roll them.

* * *

_**James:**_

The first time they stopped to get gas and change spots was late at night. Skylar apparently had a sixth sense about it, because she was able to pickpocket several wealthy people at the gas station. He hadn't necessarily seen her do it, but every time she did, he noticed the wicked gleam in her eyes. He was thinking about the way he had to fight back laughing as Seph saw the hundreds of dollars that she pulled out of her pocket after she skipped merrily back to the car.

Her innocence was slightly endearing at times. He tried to remember when he had been like that. He couldn't.

All the girls were fast asleep while Will was driving. Zach was relaxing in the back seat, which was laying flat, with McKenna at his side. Skylar was curled up in the passenger's seat, leaning her face against the window, most likely relishing the coolness of it against her cheek. Seph was asleep beside him, her head was leaning on his shoulder and she was hugging up to his arm, or had been until it began falling asleep. He eventually just gave up and pulled her against his side, letting her head rest against his chest.

Zach and Will had made plenty of crude comments about it. Much to his annoyance. Everything had been silent for a good half-hour. The boys had most likely ran out of things to say and James was relieved. He didn't know how many more sarcastic retorts he had in him. Not to mention every time he spoke with any kind of harshness, she would stir.

"Will," James said finally, "if you pull over, I'll take a turn driving."

Will glanced at him through the rearview mirror before his eyes quickly flickered back to the moderately busy interstate. Even at three in the morning people were in a hurry to get somewhere. The mortal world never ceased to amaze him. Why were they always too busy to just stop and rest? If he was a mortal, he'd be resting all the time. Heck, he might live in a bed. There was never enough resting time for demigods.

"No," Will said, snapping him out of his three seconds of self exploration. "I've only been driving for three hours, I've got another three before it's time for a trade. Besides, Seph looks awfully comfortable, I'd hate to disturb her." The sly smirk on his face quickly sobered up as he looked down slightly at her, "She needs her rest."

"I know," James said, subconsciously tightening his grip around her. "I'm worried."

"About what?" Zach said, trying to keep things light, "If it's about her getting a boyfriend, that overprotective thing you've been doing lately should scare off anyone."

"I'm being serious," James frowned. "Do you guys understand where we're going? Does anyone else foresee Janus asking her to sacrifice one of our lives to get the key?"

"You don't think she'd do it, do you?" Zach asked, worry laced his tone.

"That's the thing I'm worried about," James said, "she'd most likely ask to be spared in one of our places. We all know that it can't be that way."

"Would you be able to make the decision if the situation was reversed?" Will questioned. "Imagine telling Janus which of us to kill in order to get the key, how would you take that?"

James wished he would have been able to tell them that he would have been able to do it easily, but they all knew that it was a like. He was a lot of things, heartless was not one of them. "I don't know," he admitted with a sigh, "I don't want to know."

He looked down at Seph and felt the alien emotion of sympathy toward her.

"Look," Will said, his voice a comforting sort of calm, "There's no point in overanalyzing worst case scenarios, it'll only make us more nervous. You two get some sleep...well James anyway. I want someone to be awake enough to drive when my three hours are up."

* * *

It was three days later that he had a dream of Athena.

_Right after he switched with Skylar, and climbed into the very back with Seph, he passed out and was transported to a huge library. It was beautiful with a domed ceiling, columns around the side and book shelves from the floor to roof on the walls. There were paintings of Owls everywhere, and a statue of a very familiar Greek goddess in the middle of the room, in on hand she held an olive branch, in the other a sword, and an owl was perched on her shoulder._

_"Son of Jupiter," a cold voice boomed from behind him. Jumping slightly, he turned around and saw a tall woman with black hair, grey eyes, and was dressed in full battle armor. She made James feel completely inferior in every way. _

_He hurriedly bowed down, his eyes trained on the grey marble floor as he said, "My lady."_

_"Rise," she said, waving her hand, "We haven't time for formalities today, sky spawn. Just listen, and listen well." James silently nodded. Athena continued on, not even glancing his way as she began to pace. "Your choice is steadily approaching, and you cannot afford to mess up and lose that owl permanently."_

No pressure,_ James thought dryly._

_"Whatever you do, do not hesitate." Athena said._

_"What do you mean?" James asked._

_Athena shot him a look, as if she was annoyed with the fact that he didn't already know the answers. "We are out of time," she said. As she and the library faded, he heard her voice, "No hesitation!"_

* * *

His eyes snapped open and he flinched, they were still on the road, but unlike when he passed out, it was daylight. His arms were wrapped around something soft and warm that was curled up into his chest. Seph.

He was on his side and she was facing him with her head buried lightly in his shirt while she was using his arm as a pillow. Her hands were in between them, lightly holding on to the fabric of his shirt, and her knees were lightly digging into his thighs as her legs bent. His free arm was circled around her, pulling her close to him while they were sleeping.

This was awkward.

That was when he realized that she was waking up too. The grip on his shirt got tighter, and she pressed her face more firmly into his chest as her body tensed up. She extended her legs as she stretched, and he realized that there was no way he would be able to let go of her. She was clutched on to him much too tightly and clearly had no idea what she was using as a pillow.

He didn't want to make any sudden movements and noises, because he didn't want to scare her, and god forbid if the others happened to turn around...that was if they hadn't already.

She moved her head away from his chest just enough for him to see her eyes flutter open. It seemed to take her a moment to focus, her eyes, but once she did, she looked at and blinked, squinting slightly as she realized how they were situated. Blood rushed to her cheeks, and her eyes got really wide.

"I-" she said, letting his shirt go. He got the silent command and lifted his arm. She rolled off him, and he almost immediately missed the warmth despite how warm it was in the van.

"I'm sorry," she said, causing both Zach and McKenna, who were in the middle seat, to jump.

James shrugged, "Not a big deal, you're quite comfortable."

That seemed to cause her to flush even worse, and he felt a smirk tugging on is lips as his feeling of awkwardness shrank and his amusement grew.

"You guys have great timing," Skylar said from the front. "Now that you're finished cuddling..." she trailed off as she turned around to look at them, finding James rolling his eyes, and Seph flushing even redder, if that was possible. "We can go and grab something to eat. Breakfast time's been calling my name for like an hour! Will finally agreed to stop at a station."

* * *

_**Seph:**_

They were at a breakfast diner/gas station on the side of the highway. The air conditioning felt great against her warm cheeks, which kept flaring as she saw James walking beside her.

They were sitting at a large round table, covered with a white table cloth and various cups of coffee, orange juice, and milk. Seph took a small sip of her coffee as she listened to McKenna and Skylar, who were sitting on either side of her, talk animatedly about some hilarious story that happened at the camp a year back. It consisted of Skylar, the Stoll brothers, and an extremely angry Clarisse covered in sparkles. Just imagining the scenario was hard to imagine, considering that she didn't know any of the three very well.

She looked across from her and saw James looking at the two girls. He seemed to be paying attention, but there was a distant look in his eyes, and she saw bags under them that she hadn't before. He was slouched over slightly and looked very tired. His eyes flickered to her, and held her gaze for a moment, a half smile pulling a corner of his mouth up.

He looked terrible. His normally blue eyes seemed deadened, and it worried her. She could faintly remember him tossing and turning throughout most of the night, apparently stopping when he'd pulled her into an embrace. Maybe she hadn't been the one to blame for her situation twenty minutes before.

Skylar and McKenna faded into silence a few moments later, and Seph felt concern pulling at her, demanding to know exactly what was wrong. Figuring that he wouldn't appreciate her asking in front of anyone, she said, "Hey, James, I was wondering if you'd help me with something in the car?"

James raised an eyebrow at her, and she felt the others to look at her strangely, but she didn't break eye contact. He nodded after a moment and stood up. She followed suit, and both of them walked out of the door in silence. Once they made it to the van, James looked at her, his arms crossed, "What did you need?"

"Just to talk," she replied, leaning against the door as she looked up at him, observing his tired features, which seemed to become even more defined as she spoke.

"Look, if it's about this morning-"

"It's not." She knew, from the sound of his voice, that he was about to apologize. It astounded her how well she was able to read him. He was a nice person once all of his layers of jerk came off. He did actually care about them, and it was a warming thing to know. She respected him much more than she had before they had started out, and she would probably trust him with her life without a second thought. She could finally understand why they all trusted each other completely.

"Then what do we need to talk about?" James asked, frowning in confusion.

"Are you alright?" she questioned, looking into his eyes.

His eyebrows raised fractionally in surprise. "I'm fine, Seph."

He called her by her first name. Now she was really worried, he very rarely did that.

"Are you sure?" Seph asked.

The confused frown returned to his face, and Seph swallowed slightly, her mouth suddenly feeling dry.

And then he was there, pressing against her, one hand on her arm, the other cupping her cheek as he leaned down and kissed her. She froze slightly, unsure of what to do. His embrace was so comforting that she relaxed and kissed him back. His hand moved from her arm down to grab a hold of her hip and press her flush against him. She had to grab on to his shoulders and lean against the car to keep herself upright. Her head was spinning, and she felt amazing. She didn't know if James was going to end up kissing her as a daily routine but if he did, she wasn't entirely sure that she would complain. It wasn't the worst way to kill a few minutes.

He very slowly pulled back from her, and she noticed that he was always gentle with her, no matter what it was. Even in training, she saw what he was actually capable of. It was endearing.

He didn't move away from her, seeming content to just hold her as she tried to regain her thoughts. And, of course, the first genius statement that came from her mouth was, "You kissed me."

James breathed out a low laugh and shot her a sly smirk, "You kissed me back."

She looked up at him, her eyes wide. He took the hand that was still on her face, and lightly grazed her cheek with the tips of his fingers. He tucked a stray piece of hair behind her ear as he whispered, "I'm not apologizing for that one."

She didn't reply, choosing to just stand there and look at him. He didn't seem to have a problem with it. He silently looks at her for a few more moments before letting her go, turning around, and walking back inside.

She followed him after a few moments of trying to keep her breathing, her heart rate, and the heat that was currently residing in her cheeks under control.

When she got to her seat, James was already there, looking down at the plate of food that was brought to him by a pretty blonde waitress. She smiled at Seph as she walked off. The people at that place were much too cheerful.

She sat down and looked at her plate as well, the others clearly wanted an explanation for why they left, and what happened. Seph wasn't about to give one, partly because she didn't have one to give. She casted a small look toward James and saw that he still looked worse for wear. His shoulders didn't seem to have as much stress to them, but he didn't look good at all. And unlike what he seemed to think, one kiss from him was not enough to make her forget that there was something obviously very wrong with him.

* * *

**Meh, necessary filler chapter. But, the was an actual Seph/James moment...not just James making an ass out of himself. Hopefully that counts for something...**

_**Preview:**_

_**"You're looking for the key," the left said, it wasn't a question. "We will only talk to the quest leader and one other companion. The rest of you may wait out here. Decide who you're going to bring, Seph Current."**_


	16. Doors of Choice

_**Seph:**_

They had just passed into Nevada, it was maybe six o'clock in the afternoon, and Seph found herself sitting shotgun as James drove. McKenna, Zach, Skylar, and Will were all asleep in the back. Seph was supposed to be trying to rest before they got to their destination, but she couldn't get her mind to stop racing. There were so many _what ifs_, and _maybes_ that the possibilities were endless. Of course, none of the really positive ones came to her mind. Just the terrifying ones showed themselves.

After another mental image of everyone but her dead shot through her mind, she realized that the silence between James and herself, no matter how companionable, had to be demolished if she wished to keep her sanity. She looked over at him, her fingers drumming against her thigh, as she contemplated a subject that she could use get a conversation going.

James must have felt her gaze, because as he stopped at a busy intersection, he looked over at her. "You okay?" he questioned, an eyebrow raised slightly.

"Would you even believe me if I said yes?" Seph asked, resting her head against the leather seat.

She didn't have to look at him to know he was smirking, "No, but I'd expect you to insist that you're okay."

Seph just shrugged, watching the light turn green. "Guess I'm just full of surprises."

"No kidding," James quipped. "You keep me guessing."

"That a bad thing?" Seph questioned, looking at him with a raised eyebrow.

"I'll let you know when I find out," James replied glancing at her, a smile playing on his lips..._amazingly soft lips_...

She had to physically force herself to look away from him. "You know, you've done some pretty unpredictable things too."

"What can I say?" James said, she saw him shrug out of the corner of her eye. "You provoke some very strange reactions from me."

"I can tell," she muttered, restraining herself from touching her lips, they tingled at the thought of that morning.

"You're telling me that you're complain-" he cut his sentence off as an idiot tried to get in the lane in front of him, almost taking their front end off. James' hand immediately gravitated to the horn. As he was honking it, a slew of swearwords poured from his mouth. He was quite inventive with his phrasing.

Seph realized that the others in the back were awakened abruptly by the commotion. She casted them an apologetic glance, and by the time she turned back around, James had finished his rant. He was buzzing with electricity, from the adrenaline. As she looked more closely at him, no longer flustered by the memory of that morning, she could see the obvious signs of exhaustion.

"Tempest," Skylar said, her voice was groggy from lack of sleep, but Seph could still hear the impressed note in her voice, "where did you learn how to talk like that?"

"Talent," he replied curtly though clenched teeth.

"James," Seph said gently, touching his arm tentatively, "how have you been sleeping?"

"Fine," he snapped, shrugging her hand off.

Seph placed her hand in her lap and frowned at him. "You are such a liar!" she exclaimed.

"Get off my back," he growled, "you're not my mother!"

"You're not about to hurt yourself or anyone else," Seph said, trying her hardest to bite down on the anger that was wrestling to get free from her chest, "Now pull off on the next exit, I'll drive."

"I said I'm fine," James informed her. "I know you're hard headed, but get that through your thick skull. Nothing's wrong!"

"You're impossible, you know that?!" Seph demanded, feeling herself snap. "You're the biggest jerk I've ever met! You're tired, and we have a damn quest to complete-"

"Profanity doesn't sound good on you, Current," James said, cutting her off.

"After what you just said, " Seph informed him, "I don't think you get a say in how I speak. Now shut up and pull off at the next exit!"

"No! And _you_ shut up! You yelling is gonna cause me to get in a wreck!" he snapped at her.

"You being an idiot is going to cause us to crash," Seph informed him. "Now be sensible and pull off!"

"Why don't you-"

"For the love of Zeus," McKenna snapped angrily cutting them both off. "I don't care who's tired and I don't care who's concerned; _quit bickering, and kiss already!_ The tension between you two is giving me a headache, and if I have to hear one more word, I'm going to lock you two together in a sound proof room and you guys can fight all you want there!"

Seph blinked, feeling embarrassed, ashamed, and shocked. James opened his mouth, Seph wasn't sure what he was about to say, but she imagined it wasn't complimentary towards daughters of Poseidon. Skylar, however, cut him off before a single word could escape his mouth.

"Tempest, get over your pride, pull over, and let Seph drive, or I'm going to stick my foot-"

"I get it, Rocaine," James snapped. "I'm going to pull over!"

"Glad that's all settled," Will said, sounding calm as ever. "It's probably time to get up anyway. You're a good alarm clock."

"Glad I could help," James said icily. She saw his hand that was holding the steering wheel was clutching it so tightly that his tanned knuckles turned white.

"James," Seph said calmly, concern outdoing anger by a mile, "when was the last time you really slept?"

"Why does it matter, Seph?" James inquired, sounding more exasperated than anything else.

"Because I'm worried," she replied evenly. "Everyone else here is rested. I don't need you getting hurt."

"I'm a big boy, remember?" James questioned. "I can take care of myself."

"It doesn't mean that I can't help," she said, slowly reaching her hand out and placing it on his shoulder again.

She heard him swallow as he turned his blinker on. The nearest exit was coming up. "The hotel," he replied, tension starting to leave him. "I've been sleeping since then, but the dreams..." He just trailed off and shook his head. "It doesn't matter."

"We can stop somewhere for the night and look tomorrow," Seph said. "I don't want you being tired when we-"

"I'm still alert," he replied. "I'll be fine."

She just nodded, not wanting to cause an even bigger scene in front of the others.

James finally made it to the exit. He drove down a little ways until they came across a grassy shoulder of road. He was about to pull off when Skylar stopped him, "Keep driving."

"But you were just raising hell about-" James protested, only to be cut off, by an impatient daughter of Hermes.

"Just do it," she snapped at him.

James exhaled loudly as he rolled his eyes, "Fine, Rocaine."

"Skylar," Seph said slowly as she turned around in her seat to look at her. But Skylar wasn't looking at the road...she was looking at the map. "Are we heading in the right direction?"

"Yeah," she answered almost immediately, her eyes never leaving the old paper.

"I hate to tell you this," James informed her, "but we're coming up on a dead end."

"It's on this road," she insisted.

Zach spoke up, sounding nervous, "Are you sure you didn't-"

"Zach," Skylar said tiredly, "please do not finish that question if you're about to question my map reading skills."

"Right," Zach said slowly, looking down at his lap. "Sorry."

Seph turned back around, so that she was facing the windshield again, just in time to see them pulling into a small parking lot that surrounded a shabby building.

Shabby might not have been the right word. It was just old. The windows could probably have used a bit of cleaner, litter was rolling around in the parking lot, and the building itself, which probably had been a green color, was seriously faded, some of the paint was even peeling off the walls. Sitting inside the middle front window was a large sign, it said '_Condemned, trespassers will be prosecuted._' At least that's what she deciphered after a few moments of struggling.

"Skylar," Seph said weakly as she looked at the beaten down establishment, "You're sure you're reading the map correctly?"

"It's not like you guys can check behind me," she snapped at her, "And yes, I'm sure."

"Well," James said, his voice sounded weary and tired. "There's only one way to find out. Let's go and see what's behind all the glass."

He turned the car off and opened his door. Seph mimicked him, jumping out the passenger's seat and slamming the door shut behind her. She turned around and faced the establishment again. Despite how warm it was, she felt cold from dread and nervousness. The building gave off a bad vibe, and all Seph wanted to do was turn around and leave.

"Guys," Skylar said as she hopped down from the van, moving out of the way so the others could get out. "The paper says we're here for a key."

No one responded. The car door slammed as soon as everyone was out, and Seph lead the way to the old building. All of them seemed to have the same idea; they all pulled their weapons out.

She wondered if an outsider would think that they were dangerous or if they would think that they were crazy. Probably both. She snapped herself out of her little day dream as they approached the door. It was just a normal glass door; she could see the inside, it looked barren and dilapidated, just like the outside. Looking at the white words that were written in block letters, she managed to make out the store's name: _Doors of Choice._

"Alright," Seph said, "we might just be in the right place."

She pushed the door open, and as she peered inside, she had to do a double take. The place had done a complete one eighty. The walls were painted a stunning green, doors lined everywhere as far as the eye could see, and, despite the fact that the building looked to be a one story shop, it went up much further on the inside. She gasped lowly as she looked up to the ceiling. It was a golden dome maybe twenty stories up. An elegant staircase went around the room, creating various levels so that each doorway would be accessible. The bottom floor had doors with different decorations, one looked to be a forest, the trees actually moving, while another was nothing but complete darkness, something told her that the dark one was not something she would want to go near.

In the middle of the large room, sitting on the immaculate tiled floor, was a ten foot tall bust of a two faced man. It was white like most of the Greek and Roman sculptures, but, thankfully, this one had pants on.

They cautiously walked in, each step echoing noisily in the still air. "Welcome, demigods!" a voice boomed from behind them.

She flinched slightly before turning around. Everyone had their weapons trained on a lone target. The same tall man with copper brown hair, slim frame, and two faces. Both sides were smiling this time as he walked toward them, but neither smile seemed welcoming in the least.

No one spoke up in a reply, but all of them hastily bowed. Seph figured angering a god in their own temple could cause a few problems. The right face spoke, as the left continued that eerie smile. "We were wondering when you would show up."

"You're looking for the key," the left said, it wasn't a question. "We will only talk to the quest leader and one other companion. The rest of you may wait out here. Decide who you're going to bring, Seph Current."

"I'll go," James said abruptly.

"But, James," Seph said quietly, "you're-"

"Fine," James said, cutting her off. "I'm fine, Seph."

The others looked at her, their expressions solemn, waiting for her verdict. She could tell, by the looks on their faces, that any of them would be willing to step up in his place. The thought made her even more nervous. What right did she have to put them in danger instead of James? If he said that he was okay, she would have to trust his judgement.

"Okay," Seph replied, nodding her head to show her consent. "Let's get this over with."

She turned toward the god, who was now waiting at the only plain white door way on the whole bottom floor. She and James slowly walked forward, and she could feel the others staring at her as they got closer.

"Let's take a step inside of my office, we can talk more comfortably there," the right face said, his smile seeming to be polite, but she couldn't be sure.

"Yes sir," Seph said. When they got close enough, Janus opened the door and ushered them inside.

* * *

**I missed them bickering, lol. I hope you liked it! And all Hades is about to break loose, if you haven't figured that out yet.**

_**Preview:**_

_**"She chooses to trust you with her life," Janus said, his eyes flickering toward Seph for a second before looking back at James. "And you choose to repay her by not telling her that you're not as amazing as you would have everyone believe."**_


	17. James' Ultimate Price

_**Seph:**_

Janus had offered them two plush chairs as he walked behind his desk, which was filled with various pieces of paper. The office itself wasn't actually all that big. It was about average size, which surprised her considering the lavish size of the front room. The walls were a bright white, and it felt sanitary.

Janus sat down in a plush, black office chair and placed his hands on the wooden desk, clasping them together as if he was praying. Both of his faces were smiling, and Seph wasn't sure if she should pick a side to focus on or not.

The left side began speaking, and his body shifted so that the left face was all that they could see. "Choices are what define people," his eyes roamed over both of them as he spoke, as if trying to think of an appropriate way to beat them. The thought made her uneasy. "Without thinking about it, everyone defines themselves a little more every passing moment as they make yet another choice. Whether it's what shirt they should wear, or to freeze up during a hellhound attack."

Janus' left face's eyes were locked on James. He was in the chair to her right. His form suddenly went stiff as he looked at the god with undisguised hatred. Seph had never seen him look so murderous, his blue eyes were glowing. She swallowed and placed her right hand over his left one, which was clenched around the arm of the chair. Why did one random example have such an effect on him.

"James," she said quietly, "James, what's wrong?"

"You mean she doesn't know?" Janus questioned. This time it was his right face. His body shifted yet again, this time giving them a view of the right side. He was smiling at James with a knowing smirk that made her sick.

"It's none of anyone's business," he said, his tone was a forced light and anyone could hear the barely restrained fury.

"She chooses to trust you with her life," Janus said, his eyes flickering toward Seph for a second before looking back at James. "And you choose to repay her by not telling her that you're not as amazing as you would have everyone believe."

Seph was so curious that it hurt, but she didn't know what would happen if she didn't end the conversation immediately. "Does this have anything to do with the key?" she asked.

"Not really," Janus' right side answered, with a shrug. "But, it does have something to do with your future. Both of you."

She looked at James worriedly, who was still looking at Janus coldly, who was looking at Seph amusedly. It was some kind of sick staredown. "What do I have to do to get the key?" she asked, looking away from James.

Janus waved his hand, and gestured behind them. Seph turned around, noticing that James did the same thing. He was hopefully coming out of his shock. She saw that there were two doors there instead of just the exit. Both were identical, bright, plain white.

"The one on the left is the one you used to come in. It will take you back to your friends, and you'll be free to go," Janus said.

"And the other?" Seph questioned.

"Well, my dear, this one is not for you. This is for your companion, if he opens this door, he will receive the outcome of what would have happened if he had made the choice opposite to his biggest regret," Janus said.

Seph didn't like the way he was looking at them. He had shifted so that both faces could look at them, smiling cruelly.

"I have a feeling that the only way we can get the key is by the second option," Seph said tiredly.

Janus nodded. "When the demigods that stole the owl asked me to hide the key, I informed them that I would remain neutral no matter what. I would give them a chance to get the key, but I wouldn't just hand it over."

Seph looked at both doors and back at James, shaking her head, "I can't ask you-"

"You don't have to," James replied, looking at the door, his face already set in a mask of calm and determination. "You're just going to tell him that you're okay with me doing this."

"Jame-"

"Seph," James cut her off. "It's okay. I want this," he looked her in the eyes with a strong gaze as he tucked a stray lock of hair behind her ear. "We don't have a choice anyway. That key is our objective. I promise you, everything's going to be okay."

She didn't miss the way he adverted his eyes almost imperceptibly when he promised her. Her stomach clenched painfully, and she didn't know what to do. She knew that they had to get the key, but she didn't know if she could live with sacrificing James to get it. She knew she couldn't. What she could and couldn't live with didn't really matter, however, because she had a feeling that angering the gods by not completing the quest would result in more deaths.

"Are you sure?" she asked quietly, her hand reaching out to lightly brush across his cheek.

He gave her a strained smile and nodded. "I'm sure, Mermaid."

"Alright, then, Jamie," she said. Taking her hand away from him, she looked at Janus, who had been watching their interaction from across the desk. "He'll look in the second door."

"Very well," Janus said. He stood up and so did they. He walked around the desk and gestured for them to follow. She and Janus stood by the exit door and James stood in front of the other one.

He grabbed the knob and turned his head to look at her, the strained smile still there. Seph returned it with a strained one of her own. He twisted the knob, and the door flew open. Seph winced, expecting something horrific to happen. "I...I'm fine," he said confusedly.

She looked over at Janus, she could only see his left face, but he was smiling wickedly. Her eyes immediately returned to James, and just in time. She saw blood welling from the side of his neck. His shirt was soaked with it, and it was dripping on the foor. His eyes rolled into the back of his head as he collapsed.

"James!" she shreiked, rushing forward. She fell to her knees beside him, not sure if she should touch him, or if it would make anything worse. "What did you do?" she demanded to the god, tears falling from her eyes.

As she looked up, she saw his form fading along with the lavish surroundings. The last thing she heard was Janus saying, "He made his choice."

Suddenly they were in a dingy room with filth walls, and a busted desk in the corner. The dingy door was opened, and she could see the shadows of the others, all of them twisting and turning, probably confused about what happened to the temple. She didn't think James had time for them to gawk.

"Help!" she pleaded as loudly as her voice would go. "James needs help!"

* * *

_**Skylar:**_

The shock of the sudden change of scenery threw her off balance. She did a complete three sixty as she took in the dingy shop. It was filthy, filled with broken glass and dust. The wooden counter was rotting, and the mice seemed to be making a home out of it. The roof looked like it was in danger of caving in, which was most likely why the place was condemned.

The others were murmured curses of surprise under their breath, but other than that, everything seemed to be calm and still...

Then she heard, "Help! James needs help!"

Skylar swore if that boy didn't stop getting hurt she was going to kill him herself.

When she got to the room, right behind Will, she froze in her tracks, that was until McKenna crashed into her. Both of them lurched forward a few steps before regaining their balance. She hardly registered it, though. She was too busy looking at the blood that was pooling around James.

"Skylar!" Will shouted at her, getting her attention almost immediately. "Get Seph out of here, she's in shock."

Skylar nodded mutely, wrapping her arm around Seph's shoulder and ushering her out of the office. McKenna followed silently, her face a mask of shock and grief. Seph didn't seem to realize that she was being taken anywhere. She kept stumbling and tripping over nothing.

"It's my fault," she said shakily, "h-he's dead, and it's my fault!"

"It's not your fault," Skylar said, trying to keep her voice soothing, despite how much she wanted to start crying hysterically just like Seph.

Seph didn't even seem to hear her. "He opened a door and s-seemed fine un-til he st-started bleeding! I-I should have told him no!"

"Everything's going to be okay," Skylar said, trying to make herself believe it too. "I promise."

"James promised me that too," Seph sniffled. "He lied. He knew something like this was going to happen. He knew, I knew he knew something, and I didn't stop him."

Skylar and McKenna both walked over and hugged the hysterical daughter of Poseidon. "He's gonna pull out of this," McKenna said encouragingly. "This is James we're talking about. He's too stubborn to ever give up."

Seph just shook her head, sniffling as she hugged both of them back. Skylar didn't know what to do other than pray to Apollo that he would be okay. And so she did, she prayed while she hugged her friend in a filthy room full of broken glass. She had never felt so helpless, and she had never felt so hopeless.

* * *

**No point in complaining about where I left off lol, it could have been so much worse! :) We're starting to learn a bit about James, even if it's vague. It'll all clear up...eventually.**

_**Preview:**_

_**She sat down beside him and grabbed his hand. "I'm so sorry," she whispered, her voice barely working. Seeing him so vulnerable was terrifying.**_


	18. Worries and Recoveries

_**Seph:**_

Once they were sure that Seph wasn't about to flip out and go completely insane, they left her in the room alone to go and help out with James. She wanted to go in with them so badly that it hurt, but they told her that she needed to stay away from him for her own good. They didn't seem to understand that not seeing him was killing her as well. Very disturbing thoughts zoomed around her head, causing tears to continue to fall. She felt miserable, useless, and helpless.

She had been a horrible quest leader. So far, she'd lead her group into a house with a cyclops, which had almost gotten them killed, not realized that James had not been sleeping well, and now she had let him open a door that had most likely killed him. She was surprised that they hadn't just kicked her to the curb and announced that someone else would lead. She wouldn't have blamed them.

Skylar, Zach, Will, and McKenna walked out of the room, snapping her out of her daze. Each of them had blood stains on their clothes and hands, all of them looked tired. Will turned to her, a smile on his face as he walked over. Kneeling down beside her, he smiled even wider as he put a hand on her shoulder. "Hey, Seph. How're you feeling?"

"Fine," she lied, "what happened?"

"He's okay, Seph. Everything is going to be fine. He's resting now," Will said. "We got to him just in time. Skylar told me what happened. None of that's your fault."

Seph barely registered anything past 'he's okay.' She felt her heart stop for a second before starting up again, pounding straight into overdrive. She jumped up and pulled Will into a tight hug, sniffling slightly as she did.

Will hugged her back, chucking lowly. "You can go and see him if you want."

Seph smiled at him weakly as she released him, and without another word, she walked into the room. She saw him laying in the rising light of the moon. He looked peaceful, like he was merely sleeping for the night, not recovering from...she wasn't exactly sure what choice he regretted when the other outcome was his near death.

She sat down beside him and grabbed his hand. "I'm so sorry," she whispered, her voice barely working. Seeing him so vulnerable was terrifying.

* * *

_**James:**_

When he came around, light was shining in his eyes through his eyelids. He expected to be sore, but felt nothing other than a hard surface underneath him. He swallowed, but his mouth was dry, so it achieved nothing. As he opened his eyes, he saw Seph next to him, holding his hand once again.

"I'm not dead, am I?" he asked hoarsely.

"No," she said softly. "You managed to cut it close, though."

"Managed to do that a lot lately," he observed. "Is waking up like this a trend? Can't say that I mind."

"You're so stupid," she informed him quietly, "Why would you go through that for a damn key?"

"You might have gotten hurt otherwise," he replied. "Twice as bad, remember the prophecy?"

Seph was silent for a moment, just staring at him.

"Do you need anything?" she finally asked. "I can go and get Will," she went to get up, saying, "he probably wants to-"

James grabbed her hand and she paused and looked down at him. He shook his head at her and said, "No, I don't need anything."

"You risked your life for me," she murmured.

"You would have done the same," he said, shrugging.

She leaned down and carefully wrapped her arms around him. He swallowed his shock and hugged her back, murmuring, "You know, I'm not going to break if you actually hug me."

She let out a laugh, but he could hear the tears in it. She hugged him more firmly, and he felt a smile come to his face.

She pulled back and wiped her eyes quickly. Then, quietly, she asked him, "Can I beg for that kiss now?"

James was silent for a moment in shock, but felt a strange warmth spread through him at the question. "You'll never have to beg for one," he said, a smile coming to his face.

He started to lean up, but Seph placed a placating hand on his shoulder, "Not so fast," she whispered. She leaned forward and closed the distance between them. He felt her hair brush against his cheeks as he cupped her face in his hands.

He had just concluded that all the pain that he had went through before passing out, which was a lot, had officially been worth the reward when he heard someone clear their throat loudly. He groaned as she tore her lips away from his and gave him a clear view of a smirking Will.

"Well," he said, "I see you guys took McKenna's advice seriously."

"You know, Solace," James snapped, "I don't interrupt you and Skylar when I see-"

"James!" the daughter of Hermes herself rushed through the doorway, oblivious to the furiously flushing Seph, and smirking Will. She darted over as he was sitting up and gathered him into a bone crushing hug. "You dumb ass! You'd better be glad that you're okay! I was prepared to get Nico to raise your shade and use it for sword practice if you died."

"I'm going to take that as an 'I was worried and am glad that you're alright,'" he joked as she released him from her vicelike grip.

He sat the rest of the way up slowly and heard a jingling noise in his pocket. He reached down and pulled out his car keys, but there was an extra key on it. This one was bejeweled with greyish stones, and had a small owl carved into the side of it.

"Oh, god!" Skylar exclaimed, "that reminds me!" Not even bothering to elaborate, she dashed out of the doorway and he heard the sound of her slamming into the door outside in her haste.

James looked at Will and then at Seph, who was looking out of the doorway. Looking back at the son of Apollo, he said, "That's your girlfriend."

"Skylar's gone mad," McKenna exclaimed as she ran through the door.

"You're just figuring this out now?" James asked with a laugh.

"James!" McKenna exclaimed, practically pouncing on him in a hug.

He laughed as he hugged her back. When she let go of him, he saw an angry look in her eyes. He gulped audibly.

"You're such an idiot! How can you be so selfish as to selflessly risk your life for a dammed key?" she demanded, putting her hands on her hips and glaring at him. "I was worried, Zach was worried, Skylar was worried, Will was worried, Seph...gods, I thought she was going to pass out from the stress! Don't you dare do something so stupid again!"

James considered her for a moment before shaking his head, "That has to be the most confusing scolding I've ever gotten..."

"I'll clear it up for you," McKenna snapped. "Pull something like that again and I'll stick my foot so far up your-"

"Guys!" Skylar shouted running in, brandishing the map eagerly in her hand. Her exclamation made slightly more sense.

Zach walked in behind her and smiled when he saw James. "She already chew you out?"

"Of course," James sighed. "When has she ever waited?"

"Guys!" Skylar repeated again, sounding annoyed.

"One second, Skylar," Zach said, looking directly at Seph. "Why is your face so red? Are you okay?"

Seph looked at him with wide eyes, and James didn't even know how to begin alleviating the situation. Will on the other hand, bursted into a loud fit of laughter so powerful that he doubled over.

"Are you okay, Seph?" Skylar questioned, obviously confused. "Will, why are you laughing so hard?"

"I'm not saying a word," Will managed as he started to straighten back up, "but I imagine Seph's more than okay."

James felt a bit of heat rush to his own cheeks as Zach, Skylar, and McKenna all looked at the son of Apollo with lost expressions.

"Skylar," James said impatiently as he slowly rose to his feet. "Please, tell us about your map."

Skylar looked at him with a sly smirk. "You're not going to like this very much, not that the location makes much sense anyways."

* * *

**I hope you enjoyed! Review with your opinion? **

_**Preview:**_

_**"You know that this is the equivalent of you being on an airplane, right?" James questioned.**_


	19. The Boat Scene

**This is what writtingmagic has dubbed 'THE BOAT SCENE' yes, in all caps lol, I hope that it lived up to your high expectations.**

* * *

_**Seph:**_

They were heading to the **coast,** Skylar was driving because she was a daughter of Hermes, and most of his children were blessed with the ability to skip bad traffic, and get places quicker. That had to be nice. She didn't even know what kind of freak show powers she inherited from her father. Probably nothing nearly as useful.

James was beside her, and he hadn't said a word since they started their new journey. He seemed to be uneasy with Skylar's news, and she didn't know why. She hadn't failed to notice the devious smirks that both Will and Skylar were shooting their way, though she had a feeling that they were both sending them for different reasons.

She was concerned about why James was so agitated. Was it the location? Skylar showed them the map, and it was in the middle of the ocean. There was some island there, and the owl was apparently on said island. They had to scour an entire island for some small crystal owl, and with their luck the island was probably freaking huge, and heavily guarded...they never tended to be lightly guarded. She could understand his agitation. Normally he wasn't so tense in the face of danger, however, so she honestly didn't know. So far, everything about him was completely out of character.

Then again, he had been through so much, maybe he was tensed and seemingly agitated from exhaustion. It would make sense. She didn't know whether to say anything to him, or to just keep her mouth shut. He gave off that vibe that he just didn't want to talk and she could respect that.

Skylar, on the other hand was extremely cheerful as she drove. Humming along to the radio, which was playing quietly in the back ground. Every so often she would murmur a line of the tune, or sway around as she held the steering wheel. Much too cheery for someone who was about to possibly fight for their life. That was Skylar, though, sickeningly cheerful.

She looked in the rearview mirror at James and smirked slyly, "How are you, Jamesey?"

James casted her a hateful look, that would have made Seph want to crawl into a hole and hide, and remained silent. Skylar just smiled back. Seph was shocked by how cruel she was being. James was obviously unwell, and it was like Skylar to be teasing, but normally she cared more about James than this. Skylar's eyes flickered to her in the mirror.

"Admit it, water girl, you're curious as to why he's so tense," Skylar accused. "Why don't you ask?"

The look on James's face got impossibly more hateful and she was amazed by it. Then different pieces of information began clicking together in her brain. "I'm not acting any differently than normal, Rocaine!" he snapped angrily.

He didn't go swimming with them while they were at the camp, the he never went near the deep stream that was in the clearing that they trained in, and he had seemed fine with the whole fighting for the owl thing until they were informed that it was an island.

"James," Seph said softly.

"What?" he barked at her, causing her to flinch slightly.

"Are you afraid of water?" she questioned almost tentatively.

"I'm not afraid of anything," he snapped shortly as if that ended the discussion.

Skylar snorted loudly from the driver's seat, but she kept her gaze carefully fixed on the road. James glared at the back of her head as if he was determined to burn holes into it. Despite how concerned she was, she found it rather amusing, and had to fight back a snort of her own.

* * *

The map led them to a secluded stretch of beach. Seph, who knew nothing about California, didn't know what the place was called, or if the mortals were even able to see it. They didn't see much to begin with. James still wasn't feeling very chatty. He just walked with them, his mouth set in a straight line. His expression was neutral, and it was hard to tell if he was still angry, but she wasn't stupid, she knew he wasn't pleased.

The sky was a blanket of steadily darkening clouds. Seph figured that boating on a day like this was extremely dumb, but they didn't have a choice. She was starting to think that being a demigod meant doing stupid and dangerous things that she didn't want to do. Everyone else had masks of grim determination as they observed the horizon line above the dark and angry looking ocean. The water was sloshing around violently, and she could see large waves crashing down in the distance.

As they made their way down the beach, grimy sand sticking to their shoes, Seph was walking beside Skylar. "Are you going to steal a boat?" she questioned.

Skylar shrugged, "I guess so, though that heist might be hard to pull of in the middle of the day."

"No need to," Will announced from behind them, pointing directly forward. Seph was wondering how she missed the huge, beautiful yacht that was floating while it was tied to a tiny wooden doc.

It was a stark white with a sea green trim. Mermaids were painted on the bottom part, to make it look like they were swimming in the ocean under them. Without a doubt, it was the coolest thing she had ever seen, and, without a doubt, it was the most expensive.

"Guys," Seph said quietly. "I don't know what I thought we were going to be going to the island on, but this probably is going to get us arrested."

"We don't have a choice," Zach said. "But Skylar's never been caught before, I don't know why she'd be caught now."

Just then, a small note appeared in front of her, slowly falling to the ground. She caught it out of the air before it could get too far, and looked at the writing, reading it aloud, "Happy Birthday."

James stepped forward first, his he looked as though he was going to his own funeral as he walked forward. Then the expression disappeared and he seemed to be completely normal. He walked to the side and didn't even bother to use the ladder. He simply jumped up and seemed to float to the top. He smiled at them. "You ready to go?"

* * *

McKenna had assured them that she had driving covered, telling them that Percy was awesome with any boat and he had taught her the skills.

She and Zach were at the controls while she and the others quietly sat on the plush white bench seats. She and James were sitting on one side while Skylar and Will were on the other. Skylar was smiling tauntingly towards James, and James had his eyes closed, flinching whenever they came across a large wave. His hands were clenched and one was clutching onto the metal arm rest. She thought she heard him inhale sharply when they were rocked by a particularly large wave.

Will casted them a pitying look and stood up, pulling a smirking Skylar to her feet. Skylar looked at him questioningly and Will said, "I want to see the back deck."

Skylar shrugged and gestured for him to lead the way.

While the daughter of Hermes wasn't looking, Will looked back at Seph with a look that said, 'I've don't my part, now you take care of him!' It was unnerving to know that she was able to read them so well.

She didn't know how to take care of him. She wasn't big on comforting and James didn't strike her as someone to take comfort well. She had to try something. Reaching over slightly, she grabbed his hand and gave it a light squeeze. James immediately flipped his hand and grabbed hers, interlocking their fingers and squeezed hers back a bit more firmly.

"What's wrong?" she whispered to him.

"You know that this is the equivalent of you being on an airplane, right?" James questioned.

"I never really thought about it," she admitted. "I don't think anything's going to happen to you." She took her other hand and rubbed along the tanned skin of his bare arm, trying to ignore how large it was. She would not allow those stupid hormones get the best of her!

"Why?" James asked, his voice seemed a bit less stiff, and the muscles under where her hand was rubbing were slowly started to loosen.

"McKenna and I are both on board, I don't think Poseidon would kill us to try and get to you," she explained softly, wrapping her arm around him, she made him lean against her so that his head was resting on her lap. She brushed some hair off his forehead as she looked him straight in his eyes.

"That makes sense," James admitted.

She leaned down and pressed a small kiss to his forehead.

"I'd kiss you," James informed her, "but I don't think we need to be pushing our luck with PDA, I hear dads are very protective of their 'princesses.'" The sarcasm he put into the last word made her want to laugh.

Seph settled for a tender smile as she ran her fingers through his hair. "Agreed, Tempest."

She looked up and out into the open water as she continued to massage James' scalp gently. There was a small speck on the horizon, and somehow Seph was sure that it was their destination.

"Relax for a little while," Seph murmured to him. "I don't think we're too far from our destination."

"You think your dad is that worried about PDAs?" James muttered.

Seph snorted and lightly brushed her lips against his. "It's my fault now, pickachu ," she murmured. "Now shut up and relax."

* * *

Sorry it took so long to update. I didn't have it ready to go until Monday... :/

Anyways...hope it didn't disappoint! :) leave a review to tell me what you think!


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